The MARVELous Harry Potter
by evildaystar.ca
Summary: After graduation Harry is accidentally sent to an alternate universe
1. Dissaparating isn't usually this bad

PROLOGUE

So this is a Harry gets dumped into the Marvel universe story. I'm trying to keep Harry at a reasonable power level. I'll be sticking to cannon'ish spells, abilities and items.

I will NOT be using the ridiculously overpowered Fidelius Charm, that thing is just ripe for exploitation. Harry never learnt how to use it.

No time turner either.

Harry will be a powerful wizard freshly graduated from Hogwarts.

The story takes a while to get started while Harry gets acclimated to his new world.

CHAPTER 1

Harry Potter's life was, all things considered, fairly good.

The war had ended at the Battle of Hogwarts with the defeat of the Dark Lord and the capture of the Death Eaters.

Capturing the remaining Death Eaters had been a fairly simple task. Voldemort had tied himself to his followers through the Dark Mark and in his last moments had attempted to stave off death by drawing on his marked followers power exhausting them to the point of collapse.

There had been a bitter sweet mix of mourning and celebration as the world celebrated the end of the second rise of the Dark Lord but also mourned the passing of many brave witches and wizards: Tonks, Remus, Fred, Lavender, Colin, Snape and many more.

Seeing how Harry had not finished school yet, Andromeda Tonks had taken over guardianship of her daughter's son: Teddy Lupin. Deciding that his fame would make him and Teddy too much of a target, Harry supported Andromeda's request for guardianship granting the young boy a small bit of anonymity.

Harry of course had other reasons for this decision as well. The day after the Tom Riddle's defeat, he had found the Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone on his bedside table, trying to leave them both at random locations resulted in the same situation … unable to discard the relics, he was now the Master of Death. Those artefacts had a long and bloody history, not something he wished to curse his godson with.

Ron, Hermione and Harry had returned to Hogwarts to finish their education. One year behind their peers, the Golden Trio had joined Ginny and Luna in their final year and were on the return trip home, their final ride on the Hogwarts Express.

"Blimey, it feels strange." Ron softly stated as he watched the landscape pass by.

"What's that Ron?"

"Well, this is our last trip on the express, for us anyway. I'm sure Hermione'll come back in a few years as a teacher. Actually, you could probably come back and teach Defence as well in a few years."

Hermione gently squeezed Ron's hands and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I'd like that Ron but well, if things progress with us, maybe you would also come to Hogwarts. Teachers are expected to live in the Castle after all."

"I'd like that. Wonder what I'll do. I'd like a career in Quidditch. Maybe I'll do that for a few years and when you are ready to go to Hogwarts Madame Hooches position might be available."

Hermione gave him a small smile and turned to Harry.

"What about you Harry, what are your plans now?"

"No idea. I've been sorting through all the paperwork from Gringotts. My vault was just a school trust so I already converted that to a trust for Teddy and topped it off. I had a bigger vault from the Potter Family but I ended up having to give a large chunk of that to the Goblins as restitution. Apparently I also had another vault opened after my parents died to take in gifts from people wanting to thank me for defeating Riddle the first time. Sirius left me the Black estates so I'm not too worried about money at this point. Creacher has been working on Number 12 so we don't need a place to live in for now."

"I can't believe you're walking around with that much gold in your trunk." Ron quietly groused.

"The Goblins and I have a strained relationship. That's what happens when you break into their vaults, steal an ancient founders relic, back out of a deal about another relic, steal a security dragon and destroy parts of the bank escaping." Harry reminded him. "The ministry and I were able to smooth things over a bit but the less I go there, the better."

"Are you sure you wants us to move in with you Harry? It is your home you know."

"The place is huge Hermione, what am I going to do with a massive three story house with just me and Creacher and I've already put you guys down in my will so it's already sort of yours anyways." Harry replied with a shrug.

"What about Ginny?" Ron asked, eyes narrowed.

"We're just dating still Ron and she wants to try out for the Harpies. She has a room in the house setup for her or she can you know … well … uhm … forget I said anything." Harry finished blushing a little remembering that Ron was Ginny's brother and he didn't really need any details about their sexual lives.

The train began slowing down as they approached the hidden platform at Kings Cross.

"Do you two have all your things?" Hermione asked as she stood up and pulled down Crookshanks carrier.

"Yup, I can't believe I managed to fit all that stuff in my trunk. 7 years worth of books, nicknacks, clothes … even with the expansion charms on it."

"I can't believe you nicked the Sword of Gryffindor from the school."

"I didn't 'nick' it Ron, McGonagall told me to take it since Dumbledore had left it to me in his will."

"Is that also his pensive?" Hermione asked in disbelief.

"Yeah … it was supposed to go to his brother Aberthford but he didn't want it and he told me I'd probably make better use of it anyway."

As they walked off the train Harry found the platform filled not only with parents coming to retrieve their children but several members of the press from around the world.

After a quick impromptu press conference, the Trio made their way to the apparition point.

"Ah! Harry. There you are."

Harry turned to see Arthur Weasley approaching.

"Hello Mr. Weasley."

"Call me Arthur Harry. Now, I've been tinkering with something for a while and I think it would make a good graduation present."

"Mr. … erm Arthur, there really is no need …" Harry began, embarrassed.

"It didn't cost much and I enjoyed working on it immensely."

Arthur reached into his jacket and pulled out a miniature motorbike.

"Wow! That looks exactly like Sirius's old motorbike!"

"Well, I would hope so since it is."

With a press of a small buttin the bike quickly popped back to full size.

"Other than the flying charm it is fully functional with an added shrinking function. That one was more out of necessity or else Molly would have had me get rid of it. She doesn't approve."

"That's brilliant Arthur. Thank-you."

"Best not ride it out here. Pack it away and come to the Burrow when you have a chance and I'll give you some lessons."

Harry thanked the man profusely again and packed the bike in his trunk.

After greeting his friends and their parents Harry made to apparate to his new home.

"DIE! POTTER!" A voice cried out as Harry half spun for his apparition and half spun to face his attacker only to see a spell splash against the magic of his apparition attempt.

The world suddenly disappeared in a kaleidoscope of colors and rushing wind quickly followed by darkness.


	2. Ch2 We're not in Kansas anymore Toto

**CHAPTER 2**

Pain, Harry was used to pain after his many adventures but it never got easier to take really, especially after an entire year of nothing worse than a broken arm from a tumble in a Quidditch match.

Groaning, Harry slowly opened his eyes and was greeted with the night sky poking through a leafy canopy.

"Eight fingers and two thumbs, ten toes, hair, two ears, a nose …" after a quick pants inspection "... still have all my other appendages down there … seems I managed not to splinch myself at least."

Sitting up, Harry noticed that he was in a park in some type of large city. Skyscrapers could be seen in the distance.

A wave of nausea hit him as he attempted to stand up. "Bloody hell, I feel like I've been run over by the Knight Bus."

Closing his eyes to give his battered system a little time to recover from the ordeal it had gone through Harry began taking notice of the sounds. Car's were driving by a in the sky a plane could heard.

Standing up slowly Harry took in his surroundings. He was in a park that appeared to be surrounded on all sides by a massive sprawling city. The ground where he had landed was smoking slightly and in the grass appeared to be etched an intricate pattern. The pattern seemed familiar but Harry was finding it difficult to focus.

"What in the heck did I get myself into this time?" Harry asked as he bent down closer to examine the scorched grass.

The sound of sirens, screeching tires and the quickly approaching sound of what Harry believed were helicopters interrupted his investigation.

Far too exhausted to attempt to apparate, and not knowing where to apparate to in the first place, Harry scrambled to unshrink his school trunk and began digging through it's contents frantically searching for his invisibility cloak.

Harry managed to pull the cloak out of the trunk and quickly drape it over himself and his trunk as half a dozen heavily armed and armored men burst through the bushes.

"Perimeter secure!" the soldiers exclaimed one after another.

Harry silently shrunk his trunk and carefully placed it back in his pocket trying to move out of the way of the soldiers.

Other men arrived carrying equipment of unknown purpose, others carrying cameras. They began documenting the scar Harry's arrival had left in the grass.

Another man, bald, with small wire rimmed glasses and dressed in a business suit, arrived on the scene and the soldiers came to attention.

"Agent Stillwell. We secured the site 15 minutes after being notified of the energy spike. No sign of anyone sir." one of the soldiers, a field commander of some type if Harry had to guess.

"Get someone from linguistics to check out the burn mark. Nothing comes in or out of the perimeter, document everything and I'll go and handle the NYPD."

'Wherever I've landed they speak english at least. Can't imagine what I'd have done if I'd landed in Japan or something.' Harry thought to himself quietly as he followed the agent out of the 'Perimitter'.

Harry felt remarkably … calm, considering his circumstances. He idly considered that this was most likely due to the fact that this was probably the least dangerous situation he had ever found himself in in his short and eventful life while also acknowledging to himself that he might be suffering from a mild concussion and magical exhaustion.

As Harry and his unwitting escort made their way out of the park, Harry began recognising the city he was in: It looked like New York. It might have been due to having seen the city on the television at the Dursleys or maybe the fact that New York was clearly stenciled unto the police cars that had arrived and were currently creating a secondary perimitter to the park.

Agent Stillwell suddenly stopped and took out what appeared to be the smallest, slickest cellphone Harry had ever seen.

"Stillwell here. Yes director based on my personal observation, it's very similar to what Coulsen has reported in New Mexico. No, not exactly the same but it has similarities ..."

Harry made his way slowly away from the park and 'agent Stillwell'. A large crowd had assembled at the edge of the police perimitter, a host of reporters were vying for the best view of the military activity.

Gently making his way around the crowd and into the dark city streets.

Entering a dark alley, Harry quickly removed the invisibility cloak.

The recent ordeal was slowly beginning to take its toll on the young wizard. Sitting down next to a trash bin Harry mustered the strength for a very minor notice me not charm and promptly fell asleep.

Harry awoke some time later to the sound of sirens blaring past. Slowly standing up Harry tried to work the kinks out of his back. Sleeping on the hard ground in a dirty alleway made him sorely miss the beds in Gryffindor tower.

Stomach grumbling, Harry decided to go find a cafe to have some breakfast, clear his still pounding head and come up with a plan.

Looking around, Harry found a small cafe that serves breakfast and made his way in.

Harry sat down at a table and ordered a breakfast and a cup of tea.

"You sure you can afford it honey?" the waitress asked, casing a incredulous look at his attire.

Harry looked down at his clothing. He had been wearing jeans and a t-shirt when he had gotten off the Express. Unlike the clothing he had worn during his time with the Dursleys, these clothes had been relatively new and fit properly but now they appeared ruined. Rips and burns mared the new fabric in several places and everything was covered in grime from his fall on the ground and his night sleeping in a dirty alleyway.

"Yeah, I have some … oh. I just realised I only have British pounds and no american dollars."

A grey haired stranger, wearing large glasses sitting at the counter had apparently been observing the situation. "Don't worry about it. I'll trade you some of your money for some dollars."

The waitress turned to the old man, apparently a regular client. "Stan, one of these days you're going to get swindled."

The man made to sit at Harry's table and Harry gestured for him to sit down. After a quick exchange of money, their breakfasts were brought out.

"Thank-you for the help sir."

"No worries, you look like you've had a rough couple of days. If you're in need of a place to stay you can probably stay a couple of nights at a homeless shelter. I'm not gonna ask why you're on your own on the street."

"Actually I was in an accident last night. Woke up in an alley this morning feeling like my head was going to crack open." Harry answered. "As soon as I'm done here I'll make a few calls and everything will be sorted. Would have done that earlier but I was still having some trouble thinking. I think I might have hit my head."

"Well good luck then True Believer. Excelsior!" With that, the strange man got up and walked out of the restaurant humming a jaunty tune.

After a hearty but heavy breakfast, a quick cleanup in the washrooms and a change of clothes, Harry made his way to a pay phone.

At the end of the school year, Harry had obtained phone numbers for some of his muggle born and half blood friends. So digging through his trunk Harry took a few of them out and, using the money exchanged at the restaurant proceeded to call Hermione's parents.

"The number you have reached is not in service.".

Harry was pretty certain he had dialed the correct number and after 3 more attempts figured something might be wrong with the Grangers phone.

Looking at his list Harry decided to try Justin.

"Square Pizza, can I take your order?"

Harry confirmed the phone number with the pizzeria … he had not misdialed.

Going through his list of contacts yielded the same result. All the numbers were wrong or deactivated.

Something was very, very wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

Harry stood in the terminal at the JFK International Airport, second guessing his plan.

All his attempts at contacting his friends or the wizarding world in general had failed.

He had never learned how to use a patronus for communication. He hadn't found a single post owl. Portkeys were heavily restricted and regulated so he had never learnt how to make one. Cross continental apparition was apparently impossible and so wasn't something he really wanted to attempt. Flying his Firebolt back to London would take roughly 23 hours at top speed and with Sirius's motorbike it would take even longer if he didn't get lost and so was out of the question.

He had never really studied the american magical society, or any other magical society, and so had no idea how to contact them short of creating a massive breach of the statute of secrecy and waitting for wizards to come and arrest him.

More worrying was the fact that no one had tried to contact him. The British Ministry had far more resources at its disposal than he did and Hermione would never have simply given up on him he had hoped for a post owl or some such but nothing had come.

All these facts combined with the lack of success contacting his muggle born friends by phone lead to a rather terrifying theory … one that would require a trip back to England for confirmation.

Without a passport, it would be impossible for Harry to board a plane and the confundus and notice me not charms would not really get him past the several dedicated security checkpoints and various automated security systems. The confundus charm worked well enough to trick people on small misdirections or lies but wasn't mind control like the Imperius.

Even the imperius curse, if Harry felt desperate enough to use it, would not really help much with the levels of security at the airport or with the automated systems.

Climbing unto the plane with his invisibility cloak could work but planes were too cramped to hide in … unless you wanted to ride in the cargo hold.

And so this is where Harry Potter found himself staring at a monitor showing plane departures for London. A quick apparition to the airfield and a quick donning of his cloak allowing him to sneak into the luggage hold and the young wizard was on his way to England.

After a grueling 7 hours in a cold and loud luggage hold, Harry considered simply stowing away on a ship instead, even if it would take 4 or 5 days. The temperature in the hold had dropped to near freezing and the hold was not well insulated against the sound of the rushing wind and the jet turbines.

The moment the plane landed Harry apparated straight from the hold to diagon alley's apparition point only to appear in the middle of a busy street filled with Muggles.

Apparating again after a quick view of the area, Harry appeared in front of 12 Grimmauld Place only to find a record store in its place.

Twisting Harry appeared in front on number four privet drive to find an elderly couple living there. Frantically, Harry apparated to the Burrow to find an empty field.

Harry simply sat down heavily on the wet ground feeling empty. The reality of his situation finally truly sinking in.

"We've always had crazy adventures but we mostly came out on top … I was kind of hoping." he spoke to himself softly. Harry paused momentarily trying to compose himself not really able to finish his sentence.

"Only one place left to check really." Harry softly whispered to himself as he apparate again.

Appearing in the ruins of an ancient castle Harry began slowly walking among the piles of stones. He could recognise bits and pieces of Hogwarts in the remaining ruins but there were far less ruins than Harry would have expected for a castle the size of Hogwarts. He could feel some stale remnants of magics in the air showing that there had been wards here once upon a time but the magics were weak, broken and incomplete. Remnants of wards carved into stone centuries, or more, ago. Old magics barely clinging to the stones.

"Well, there's no kidding myself any longer. I'm in a different universe or reality or … something." Harry whispered to himself as he stood where the great hall stood in his reality and most likely stood in this reality some centuries past.

This castle had most likely never evolved into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Some terrible fate having most likely befallen the wizarding population of the time.

In his reality, Binns had, in between boring essays on Goblin Wars, droned on and on about the role of the British wizards in creating wizarding society.

Hogwarts had been the main wellspring for magic in most of the world in the beginning, the first organised school of magic. Without Hogwarts, magic must have remained an apprenticeship field severely restricting the growth and evolution of the wizarding population. A few bad lucks with a wizard passing away and a vast proportion of the worlds magic would have been wiped out.

A single wizard would apprentice perhaps two or three young wizards in their lifetime while Hogwarts, in Harry's time in school produced over two-hundred and fifty new wizards every year and had inspired other countries in creating their own schools like Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.

Taking out the marauders map from his trunk, Harry tapped it "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good". The map remained blank, unable to connect to the magic of the castle. "Mischief Managed."

Harry spent the remainder of the day walking about the ruins, casting various detection and revealing charms in the hopes of finding some secret store of magic or signs of more recent magic magic use but as the sun began to set, he gave up hope.

As far as he could tell, he was the only Wizard in the world.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

Apparating back to London to purchase food and other supplies, Harry decided to make camp at the ruins of Hogwarts and plan his next step.

The presence of somewhat familiar magics, no matter how weak and frayed, were a precious comfort in this strange new land.

Transfiguring some rocks and twigs into a temporary shelter, Harry took stock of his ressources.

In his old school trunk he had several changes of clothes, both magical and mundane, some dress robes, some quidditch gear, a half spent potions kit, books from all seven grades for most classes.

He also had some of Hermione's ancient runes books he had borrowed for some self study, he had refused her arithmancy books, something he suddenly regretted doing.

He also had a few books from the Black library on less 'evil' rituals, an old prank journal that had belonged to Sirius, a book on animagi and a book on the Mind Arts that Neville had given him as a birthday gift. Neville had found the book in his families library when he took over running of the home from his grandmother after graduation.

Harry didn't know if it was really a lack of skill as Snape always claimed or simply his aversion to those arts but he hadn't progressed much in either occlumency or legilimency.

He had purchased the book on animagi hoping to master the skill in the last year but he had gotten sidetracked. Now he was unsure if he would attempt it as he had no one to help if he became stuck in his form.

Harry smiled softly as he pulled a small glass spinning top. The sneakoscope Ron had bought for him during his trip to Egypt lay still and quiet. He then pulled his second sneakoscope, the one they used during their hunt for the Horcruxes.

Next to his set of omnioculars were 3 and a half bottles of firewhiskey and 6 bottles of butterbeer. These would most likely have to last him the rest of his life since he had absolutely no idea how they were brewed or if the ingredients even still existed.

Next was a box with gifts he had received from some well wishers. Letters, photos, knickers … most of them from girls and women. Many of them rather embarrassing in their content.

Harry had replaced his Firebolt, lost during the ridiculous and disastrous escape from Privet Drive, after the war with another in memory of his godfather.

The Marauders map was now just a simple piece of paper, maybe he would study the enchantments on it if he had time.

The Sword of Gryffindor lay in his trunk in a spelled scabbard. The blade was ridiculously poisonous and so Flitwick had created a special scabbard for Harry. The blade was somewhat sentient and since it had chosen him as its wielder after the events in the Chamber of Secrets Harry had discovered that he could pull it from anywhere if needed. Out of a hat, out of a bag, out of a hole in the floor … if he could reach his hand in and the opening was large enough to fit the pommel, he could draw the sword.

The stone and wand remained in his trunk in a heavily warded box.

Unsure if the title of Master of Death was only an honorary title or if it meant more, Harry found himself very reluctant to use the stone and even more reluctant to use the wand in fear of triggering some unknown disaster.

The cloak he had continued to use as he had been using it for eight years with no apparent ill effect.

Dumbledore's pensieve lay at the bottom of the trunk empty of memories.

Finally, Harry had roughly 200 pounds and 5000 Galleons.

The Galleons would be immensely useful and Harry seriously regretted not having more gold in his trunk considering his vaults had somewhere along the lines of 2,000,000 Galleons. At least Teddy, Ron and Hermione would have something to inherit.

Harry could remember clearly the day Hermione had discovered the disparity between the exchange rate offered at Gringotts versus the market value for the equivalent gold. At Gringotts a Galleon was traded for 4 or 5 pounds but at half an ounce of pure gold, each coin had a market value of roughly 440 pounds in the muggle world.

Only two obstacles prevented an enterprising wizard from collapsing the wizarding economy by cycling gold for pounds and pounds for gold at a rate of 100 to 1.

The first obstacles was the enchantment on the coins. Each coin was enchanted by the goblins to prevent tampering. The enchantment was not very strong and could be easily broken but then the greedy wizard would be confronted with the second obstacle: The law and treaties.

Tampering with the enchantment on the coins was a one way ticket not to Azkaban but at the tender mercies of the goblins, who were neither tender nor merciful, or the ministry risked the closure of Gringotts and a new goblin rebellion.

Of course, neither of these were obstacles for Harry in this new reality.

Repacking everything in his trunk Harry started boiling some water on the small fire he had made for a cup of tea. While the water boiled, Harry began making himself a few cold sandwiches.

The most urgent problem of course was his lack of paperwork. The muggle world had paperwork for everything. Birth, education, driving, traveling … his lack of paperwork would make things more difficult.

Harry sat in silence for a time, staring into the fire he had created, lost in thought. He wondered what his friends were doing right now. Was Hermione still researching in the Black library what could have possibly happened to him? Had he already been declared dead by the Ministry? Was Ginny crying over his apparent death.

And Teddy. He would have to live without his parents or even his godfather. Just like Harry had himself.

"This is it then? This is my reward for saving the world? I get everything taken from me? My friends, my family?" Harry softly spoke into the fire.

"All that pain and suffering and sacrifice …" he added bitterly.

"I wasn't asking for much. I just … I just wanted a quiet normal life."

Harry wiped at his cheeks finding tears there. Throwing the rest of his tea away he cast a quick charm on his fire to prevent it from escaping the small pit he had made. Taking the sleeping bag he had transfigured from some old clothes Harry closed his eyes and fell asleep.

He could almost feel the ancient and feeble magics of this realities Hogwarts attempting to comfort him or perhaps it was simply wishful thinking caused by the somewhat familiar magics.

Harry spent a few more days in his makeshift camp at Hogwarts while he worked on the problem of the enchanted Galleons.

It took Harry a few days and a few destroyed coins to finally find the proper combination of spells to safely disenchant the coins.

Choosing to disenchant only a few at a time Harry spent an extra week at Hogwarts converting gold for an hour a day, apparating back to London to sell the gold at pawn shops and less reputable gold sellers and return to Hogwarts.

Selling the gold at pawn shops and shadier businesses resulted in a lower return with some unscrupulous merchants attempting to offer Harry as low as 40 percent of actual market value. The liberal use of confondus charms resulted in an average return of 65 percent and liquid assets just shy of 30000 US.

Harry spent some time learning how to drive Sirius's old motorcycle and had purchased a simple helmet, a leather riding coat in a style very similar to wizarding robes as well as riding boots and fingerless gloves. The coat reminded him of some of the things Sirius had worn.

After much internal debate, Harry had decided to return to New York instead of remaining in the more familiar London. The reasoning was quite simple. He had arrived to this reality in New York, perhaps there was some type of connection there that could allow him to return to his own reality.

Harry had considered going to other magical centers such as Beauxbatons or Durmstrang to see if like Hogwarts there were at least ruins or other potential clues but as he had never traveled outside England, Ireland or Scotland, he didn't really know even in his world these locations were much less in this world.

Having learned some important lessons on his previous trip in a cargo hold, the trip back from England to the US had been marginally more bearable, dressed in transfigured warm clothing and protective ear covering.

Arriving back in New York at JFK after another long 7 hour flight, Harry apparated straight from the cargo hold back to the alley where he had first slept on the night he had arrived in the new reality, being the only place he was familiar with enough to do a proper apparition.

Walking the few blocks from the alley, Harry made his way back to his arrival point in Central Park. The grass had been obviously replaced a clear circle of fresh grass could still be seen even after over two weeks.

Casting his limited repertoire of revealing and detection spell revealed nothing.

Night was fast approaching and Harry had no wish to spend one more night sleeping in an alley.

Returning back to their airport Harry was directed to a local Hostel for cheap accommodation.

Harry paid for two weeks and was given a bed in a dorm room with five other beds.

The hostel has several dorms: some mixed, some gender specific. They also had individual rooms, a bar / common room, a game room and even a room with public access computers.

Finding a dinner nearby Harry went out for supper and returned some time later with a used book on computers purchased from a used book store.

Returning to his dorm, Harry found a woman with short blond hair packing things into the storage container under their shared bunk bed.

Harry greeted her with a nod as he removed his trench coat and packed it away in his own container.

"I guess we'll be bunk buddies." the woman said, pointing at the bunk beds.

"I guess so. I can switch if you'd prefer the top bunk." he offered.

"No, no. That's fine. God! Last time I shared a bunk bed with someone it was my little cousin and he ended up peeing the bed above me."

Harry snorted in disgust and mirth.

"Well no worries about that. I haven't peed the bed in … what time is it now? 19:00? So in at least 11 hours."

"Ha, ha! Very funny. My name is Kate by the way. And you?" she asked reaching a hand out.

"Harry. Harry Potter." Harry took her hand. She had a strong grip and her hands were rough. The hands of someone who did a lot of manual work.

"Well. I'm going to go to the bar upstairs and have a drink and some unhealthy bar food. Maybe we'll chat later?"

Harry nodded in response and watched her walk away. She was in her late twenties or early thirties, in good shape. Her steps were efficient and purposeful.

Harry stopped staring not wanting her to think he was staring at her arse or something of that nature.

Taking his 'Computers for Idiots!' book. Harry made his way to the hostels bar / common room.

Finding a nice chair by a small table, Harry purchased a drink and began the tedious process of learnings the basics of computers.

Harry groaned in disgust. The book was informative but he couldn't believe how lacking his education at Hogwarts had been.

"What are you reading?"

Harry looked up from his book to find that Kate had taken the seat opposite him and was eating a greasy burger and drinking a large beer.

Noticing Harry looking at her food she commented.

"My trainer is going to murder me when I get back but I'm on vacation and this tastes damned good."

Harry nodded in acknowledgment.

"So what's with the book?"

Harry showed her the battered cover.

"Seriously? Why are you reading that?" her tone was not mocking, more flabbergasted.

"Never used a computer in my life. I just graduated from a private school, thrust into the world only to find that my education was lacking a bit in some important areas."

"How can you have graduated from any school and not have touched a computer?"

"It was a very exclusive school but also very old school."

"But I mean you have a smartphone right?"

"Nope."

"Where are you from?" she asked, taking a sip from her glass.

"Lived with my aunt, uncle and cousin in Surrey until I was eleven then I went to an exclusive boarding school in Scotland for 7 or 8 years. Just graduated this year actually." Harry explained thinking there was no harm in sharing this information.

"Oh what school?."

"I don't think you would have heard of it. It's an exclusive invitation only school. I was put on the rolls the day I was born because both of my parents had gone." he explained hoping she wouldn't press the subject.

"Sounds … mysterious." she explained an impish smile on her lips. "Well, how was it?"

Harry took another sip of beer trying to find a non-compromising way to describe Hogwarts.

"It was built inside an old castle. There were four houses. Red, Green, Yellow and Blue. The houses were divided based on the results of a personality test. The courageous went to red. The loyal and hardworking went to yellow. The academic types went to blue and the cunning and ambitious went to green." Harry explained fondly, trying to avoid any fantastic sounding names.

"That kind of segregation would cause some serious issues in the long run wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, my house, the red house, and the green house didn't get along at all. The green house thought anyone in the yellow house were useless duffers. The blue house sort of got along with everyone else but more so with the green house and, if I'm going to be honest less with my house." Harry admitted.

It hadn't made much sense to him in the end how the houses were sorted. Neville was loyal and brave. Hermione could have been in Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Percy could have been in Slytherin. Goyle and Crabbe were so bland that Harry didn't think they really fit anywhere. The whole system just seemed designed to reinforce stereotypes.

"I shared a dorm with some mates in a tower. The dorms for the green house was in the dungeons. It was so … magical for lack of a better word. There was a huge lake on the grounds and it was surrounded by a forest. The education was pretty good but didn't focus much on technology so I'm balls with computers." Harry admitted. "Hence the book."

It suddenly occurred to Harry that his education at Hogwarts had been severely lacking and really only prepared him to live within the wizarding society. He lacked many of the basic skills taught in muggle schools and this was going to be a problem going forward in this new world. He knew next to nothing about basic science or math.

He'd also never really looked into how much technology would be affected by his magic. Would just using a computer everyday make it short out in the short or long run?

"You still there Harry?" Kate asked after a moment of silence.

"Yeah, sorry. It just feels … it just feels like my whole world has changed." Harry replied ironically. "I spent the last seven or eight years in a boarding school, locked away from the rest of the world and suddenly I'm out here on my own … alone."

"What about your parents?"

Harry stared into his half finished glass, lost in memory.

"They were murdered when I was one."

"I'm sorry for bringing that up." she replied regret in her expression "I should have known, you mentioned you were living with your aunt and uncle."

"It's fine. I have had my whole life to deal with that and before you asked, my aunt and uncle hated me. They were jealous of my parents and made sure I knew I was unwanted. Thankfully I don't have to deal with them anymore." he added bitterly.

They sat in somewhat awkward silence for a time.

"So you just graduated and decided to pay yourself a trip to the United States?"

Harry simply shrugged.

"I'm on vacation so figured it wouldn't hurt and my parents and godfather left me a fair bit of money. If I'm careful I should be ok until I figure out what to do next."

The next few days fell into a routine. Harry would head back to Central Park and spend some time trying to learn how to use a computer. The computer hadn't exploded with his limited interactions.

Harry had considered purchasing a smartphone, the attraction of having essentially a large portion of the world knowledge at his fingertips was an attractive prospect, but still wasn't certain of how it would react to his magic and he didn't feel like spending 500$ to 1300$ of his finite funds on something that might explode the first time he put on his invisibility cloak or in his trunk when he shrunk it down.

Kate had convinced him to go sightseeing twice. They had visited the Statue of Liberty and, at Kate's insistence, visited a monument to a man called Steve Rogers : Captain America.

Harry read the inscription on the monument and boggle at it. This man had been a super soldier in world war two fighting against the nazis and a military group called Hydra.

"My great aunt knew him. She never stops talking about him." Kate explained.

"Hydra had launched a plane with an atom bomb on board heading for the US and he drove it into the arctic ocean."

Harry had to admit that normal history was another facet of his education that Hogwarts had been lacking in but Harry didn't remember anything about this Hydra or Captain America and assumed it was another point of divergence between the two realities.

Harry had also been dragged out to go to something called a Rave. A party with lots of drugs and what to Harry could not really be called music. Harry hadn't been a fan.

After a week, Harry had made no progress with his arrival point at Central Park. and so decided that he would need a more permanent living situation.

On a whim, Harry began searching for buildings for sale on the computers at the hostel.

Harry sat staring at the screen in contempt. He really had no idea where to even begin.

He realized then how smug he had been in the face of pureblood wizards who didn't understand basic things, such as how electricity works, and how that sense of superiority had been wholly misplaced.

Harry looked around himself to see others clacking away at the keys, their hands a blur as text practically exploded into the little boxes on the screen while he laboriously typed his words one letter at a time hunting for the letters arranged in what appeared to be a completely arbitrary order on the keyboard.

Harry let out a sigh of frustration as the box he was typing in suddenly disappeared under three other boxes attempting to sell him pills to make his manhood bigger, or replace his thinning hair or offering him a subscription to a music service he didn't even understand.

"Having some issues?"

Harry leaned his head back to see Kate standing there behind him, an amused look on her face.

"I don't well bloody get these machines. It takes me somewhere around 5 minutes to type one bloody word and then all these boxes appear covering my other boxes." Harry replied with an exasperated sigh.

"Here, budge over and let me help you out. What are you looking for?"

Harry ceded his chair.

"I need to find a place to trade in a little gold and not get robbed on the exchange and I'm looking for a cheap commercial building. Looks like I'll be here for a while and decided I'd open a business." Harry explained.

"Where do you want to open this business and do you have a work visa? Business permit?" she asked.

"Well, I'm just in the preliminary stages right now. Trying to see what this would cost and all that." Harry hedged.

"Ok so what type of business do you want to start? That should help decide what type of property to look for."

"Well, I was thinking maybe … you're gonna think me mad."

"No, go ahead." she encouraged him with a small touch.

Harry tried not to flinch at her contact. Even after all these years he still wasn't one hundred percent comfortable with physical contact other than from Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Mrs Weasley and Luna.

"Fine … something kind of like a detective agency."

"What? Really? But I mean … I don't want to insult you but you can't even do a simple web search. Detectives these days need a lot of tech know how. You also need to be licensed by the state."

Harry simply shrugged. "It's something to look into. Honestly, I'm looking to work not because I have to but because I'd go crazy otherwise. Harry Potter Detective Agency. Solving cases with arguable efficiency."

Kate laughed out loud as Harry mimed putting up a sign with those words up on a wall.

In reality Harry had been considering something along those lines but instead of a detective agency he had considered: Harry Potter, wizard for hire. Have wand will travel.

Harry could practically hear Hermione's exasperated sigh at yet another one of his cockamamy plans but it wasn't just a fly by the seat of your pants scenario like most of his ideas.

It was an insane idea that could get him in a lot of trouble but had some interesting potential. If there was some type of magical community somewhere, hanging a sign up on a wall offering wizardly services was sure to get their attention, be it good or bad, and there were enough crackpot mystic's and clairvoyants on the telly and in small shops that if there were no real magicals in the world he'd just fit in with the other weirdos. He just had to be careful in how he presented his services. Keep it simple enough so that people would believe without really believing … if that made sense.

The universe seemed hell bent on throwing him into these situations no matter how much he would like to live a simple life so why not make a career out of it.

Now the main problem was getting all the paperwork he needed to create himself a new life.

"You're … you are seriously considering this aren't you?" Kate asked in complete disbelief. "I can practically see you planing it right now."

"Yeah, I am. There's some hurdles to overcome but I think I can see myself doing this kind of work. Helping people with their problems and if it doesn't work, as long as I plan carefully I'll have enough money left over to try something different."

Kate looked at Harry hesitantly.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to offend you but how much money do you actually have? I don't mean to pry but I don't think you understand how much the world really costs."

Harry rubbed his neck with a little embarassement and did a bit of mathematics on a piece of paper to figure out the conversion from half ounce gold to american dollar. Figuring he would lose about 40% in the gold conversion he wrote down 1.8 Million US.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Sorry for the delay. I'n my original cut of this, Harry killed about 20 people ... re-reading it it made Harry way too OOC.  
I'm also re-writting another entire action chapter to make it fit better inside the Marvel Universe.  
That being said, I do have another 4 chapters written that won't significantly change so once that other key chapter is fixed, the other should come out a bit faster.

It remarkably only took a few days to find and then purchase a business with Kate's help. She had helped him find a place to trade in his gold and they had found a building in Queens for 300,000$ that included a business and two apartments.

Harry couldn't believe how smoothly everything had gone. He had expected to encounter a lot of red tape and paperwork but it had gone remarkably well.

He had even gotten a much better rate on his gold conversion than he had anticipated, losing only 15% instead of 40%.

He still was short a work visa, business license, business insurance and so on so forth but those were just details really.

Walking into the business with keys in hand, Harry closed the security shutters and got to work. The building was in poor repair. The building had been used for illegal activities and had been seized by the city. There was humidity damage, the walls needed to be repaired and repainted. The electrical wiring needed to be redone.

None of these issues were of a major concern for Harry and by the end of the day, with the use of a copious amount of charm work, the business and apartments had been fully restored and renovated.

A task that would have taken months and cost tens of thousands of dollars was done in about one day at no cost.

Over the next two days, Harry used transfiguration to transform debris unto furniture. Old wooden crates became simple but serviceable tables. Old rusted steel became bookshelves.

The bookshelves were filled with used books Harry had purchased at a local used book store. His spell books remained safely in his trunk as they were now technically priceless unique manuscripts and were literally irreplaceable.

"I'll need to figure out how to copy the books before something happens." Harry mumbled to himself.

A shopping trip later and Harry had purchased the things he could not create for himself: a stove, a refrigerator, a television, various lamps, a bed, linen …

Harry had silenced his two sneakoscopes and mounted them by the entrances.

Hermione's better sneakoscope was mounted over the door of the business with Rons sitting on a bookshelf in Harry's apartment.

Finally Harry was ready to open his business.

In the dead of night, Harry transfigured the existing sign. In the end he had decided on a compromise, a mix of his two initial ideas.

"Harry Potter - Wizard for Hire : Problems solved with arguable efficiency."

He hadn't had any customers in the first few days so spent his time trying to figure out some of the charm work on his omnioculars.

It had occurred to Harry that they had a very powerful, yet underrated ability. Like the marauders map, they could identify people by name. This would be something very useful in his new profession if he could enchant his glasses with that ability.

Harry had begun making some progress on the charms when his first customer entered his office.

The soft jingle of the bell mounted to the door broke Harry's concentration. Looking up from his notepad Harry noted a hispanic woman in her mid forties dressed in casual clothing nervously looking around Harry office, anxiously wringing her hands.

The sneakoscope over the door remained still indicating that the woman wasn't there to cause trouble.

The woman appeared ready to leave.

"My name is Harry Potter, please come in. How can I help you?"

The woman wrung her hands nervously.

"Please. Have a seat. Can I offer you a cup of tea?" Harry asked approaching the woman and guiding her to the chair across his desk.

Harry poured the woman a cup of tea.

"So, how can I help you?" Harry asked again, sitting down.

"It's my son, Samuel. He's, he's gone missing. He disappeared two weeks ago." the woman explained.

"Did you go to the police?"

"We're … we're not here legally. Going to the police … well it wouldn't really help." she explained.

"Ok Mrs?"

"Hernandez. Alejandra Hernandez."

"Ok. Mrs. Hernandez. Let's see if I can help you."

"We, we don't have much to offer ..." she offered hesitantly.

"Don't worry about that. I'm sure we can work something out. Let's start with something I've been playing with. Do you have something of your sons with you? Something personal? A hairbrush or comb maybe? An article of clothing he wore often?"

The woman handed Harry a picture of her son and a brush. Harry reached into his drawer to get a map of New York. Taking a small bottle of regular ink, he shredded some hair from the boy into the the ink.

Harry had been studying some of the magic that had been used to create the Marauders map. The Marauders had used a variation of the Homonculous Charm, a charm designed to detect living beings in a mapped area.

Harry assumed that they had used the wards of Hogwarts to empower the charm. Harry would use a variation based on their variation. Using the hair as a link to the boy instead.

Harry took an eye dropper and pulled a small amount of ink from the inkwell and let a single drop fall on the map he had found in the building when he had taken possession.

Pointing at the ink drop before it could be absorbed by the paper, Harry cast the charm.

The drop slowly began moving on the map stopping over The Bronx.

Opening a closeup map of the Bronx, Harry repeated the process again narrowing the location down to a general area within the Bronx.

"Ok, well that narrows it down."

"Realmente eres un mago! You, you really are a wizard!"

"It's what it says on my business card." Harry replied light heartedly "Or, it would if I had any business cards."

Harry jotted down Alejandra's information and promised to get in touch with her as soon as he found her son.

Harry strapped his wand to his wrist holster and rolled his motorcycle out from the backroom of his office. Consulting his maps he made his way to the Mount Eden area of the Bronx.

Using a small map of the area he had picked up at a community center and some of his remaining ink, Harry had managed to narrow down the location of his target to a small run down apartment complex.

A light muggle repelling charm to keep would be thieves and 'meter maids' generally disinterested in the bike Harry made his way into the apartment complex lobby.

Walking through the main doors Harry was accosted by a rather large man.

"Can I help you?" the man asked as he barred Harry's way.

"Yes. I'm looking for Samuel Hernandez? I believe he's somewhere here?"

The man looked Harry up and down as if gauging his intention.

"I'm not here to hurt him. His parents are just worried so I offered to track him down and make sure he was alright." Harry explained.

"Right. He's in 107. Just turn right and it's down the hall."

Harry thanked the man and walked past him in the direction indicated.

Harry noticed movement just as he past them man and ducked down avoiding a vicious punch but was not fast enough to avoid the follow up kick to the head.

The world faded to black as his head hit the ground.

Waking up some time later with a splitting headache. Harry found himself lying on a dirty mattress in a dilapidated room filled with other occupants.

Someone was dabbing his head with a wet rag.

Noticing he was awake, they handed him his glasses.

Coming into focus Harry noticed it was a girl, around seventeen years old with a slim face and a punk styled haircut. Her hair was short with one side of her head shaved down almost to the skin.

Her brown eyes were dark and red with exhaustion.

"What the bloody hell happened?" Harry asked, his voice rough.

"You were tricked, like the rest of us." the girl explained

"Story of my life really. How long have I been out?"

"Only about an hour or so."

"Where are my things?"

"I don't know, somewhere in the building but it doesn't matter. We're prisoners here."

"What do you mean?"

The girl looked around anxiously. "We're prisoners here. We're forced to work packaging drugs for these criminals. We work all day, they let us sleep for a few hours, feed us a little food and then send us back to work."

"Who are they?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. They don't talk much. Could be any of the crime gangs in New York."

Harry tried to stand but the world spun wildly.

Compromising and sitting up instead of standing Harry thanked the girl and began taking stock of his situation.

He was a prisoner of a drug cartel. There were apparently others held prisoner. His captors had his wand. On the other hand, Harry was not defenceless. He had access to SOME wandless magic, not much but some. He could do some very minor summoning wandlessly ... enough to call his wand or other light object to his hand if he dropped it in a fight. He had begun work on other spells like alohomora, the banishing charm amd arresto momentum but hadn't really managed them in his last year at Hogwarts.

He could obviously still do apparition but he was not leaving these people to this fate and was certainly not leaving without his wand.

"What's your name?" Harry asked her.

"Felicity. You?"

"Harry. Harry Potter. Is there a Samuel Hernandez here?"

A young hispanic boy, around 15, tentatively spoke up.

"Thats me."

"Right. Your parents asked me to find you so how about we get out of here." Harry asked.

"And how the f$%k do you plan on doing that?" Felicity asked. "These people are armed to the teeth and we're locked in."

Harry shrugged "I've been in worse situation than this before. This will be a piece of cake."

Harry would have preferred to take a bit more time to recover but could not risk being separated from his wand for too long. While he did have the Death Stick in his trunk in Queens he would really prefer not having to rely on it as his main wand.

Apparating to his apartment was also out of the question with a head injury.

Harry unsteadily stood up and walked to the door.

The door was not particularly impressive. A simple interior door with a few deadbolt locks locked from the outside. Vernon had put more locks on his door in the summer of '92.

The others in the room backed away from the door instinctively.

"If you make trouble, they'll punish us all."

Harry noticed the bruises around the girls neck and the side of her face. "Don't worry … I don't plan on being gentle with them." Harry explained.

Looking around the room, Harry found a waste basket and reaching inside grasped the hilt of the sword of Gryffindor pulling the sword from his apartment.

"Everyone stay here. I'll come and get you after I clear the way out."

Walking to the door, Harry slid the blade between the door and the door frame and pushed downwards. The enchanted goblin blade slicing through the cheap metal and wood with ease.

Taking a calming breath, Harry pulled the door open and peaked into the hallway.

Two large men wearing some type of gang uniform were standing at the end of the hallway talking quietly to each other, their backs conveniently turned to him.

Harry quietly made his way to the two men and smashed the pommel of his sword over head of one, watching him crumple to the ground. With a step back and a flourish Harry pointed the tip of his sword to the other man's chest.

"Drop your weapon and kick it behind me." Harry ordered.

The thug seemed to consider his options before dropping the weapon.

"I don't know where you got that sword but you're dead man. There's at least twenty other guys in here. You ain't getting past them."

"On your knees, hands behind your head. Now how about you tell me where my belongings are." Harry asked as he kicked the gun further down the hall behind him.

"I'm not telling you anything! They'll kill me!"

"Right, we do this the hard way then." Harry then smashed the man in the side of the head with the the pommel of his sword.

Walking down the corridor and trying the doors Harry found more prisoners locked in crowded rooms.

Signaling for them to remain quiet Harry continued searching the floor.

Turning around a corner Harry came face to face with two men who were walking down the hallway towards him not having noticed his approach.

Hiding back around the corner, Harry waited for the men to approach.

The moment the first man turned the corner, Harry smashed him in the face twice breaking the man nose. The second man took a step back and fumbled for his weapon.

Harry threw out his empty hand left hand, attempting to pull the weapon from his grip, pulling the man off balance and making him drop his weapon.

Harry, while physically fit, was not muscle bound and had never trained in physical fighting so when the first man grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, it was unexpected.

Harry found himself face first on the dirty carpet, his arm straining at the shoulder and his sword falling from his hand.

A roar of rage and the sound of charging feet distracted Harry's captors for a moment enough to allow him a chance to free his arm and shove the man holding him off to the side.

Rolling off towards the sword Harry came to a kneeling crouch, sword pointing towards his assailant.

Behind the man, Harry could see the girl who had been tending to him as she kneed her opponent savagely on the groin, followed by a heavy elbow strike to the head.

Harry's opponent rushed at him in an attempted tackle. Harry pivoted to the side avoiding the man's grasp and struck him on the top of the head with the pommel of his sword.

Harry turned back to the girl to find her beating the now unconscious man repeatedly in the face.

"Woah! Bloody Hell! Stop before you kill him … he's down and not getting up any time soon." Harry exclaimed as he pulled the struggling girl off.

After she calmed down Harry let her go.

"Why didn't you f$%king run them through with your sword!" she demanded, turning to Harry, her expression a mask of anger.

"I try not to kill people when I can."

"These f$%kers deserve it. They're nothing but god … damned … animals." she punctuated her last three words with kicks to the ribs of her fallen opponent. "Why do you have a sword if you aren't going to use it?"

"The sword is ridiculously poisonous, a simple cut is almost a guaranteed death sentence. This isn't really the best place to have a philosophical debate about the morality of killing in combat, we should get out of here first." Harry replied.

He noticed felicity pick up a second pistol from the ground.

The next door they opened was a storage room and with a bit of searching Harry found a box containing his wand, empty wallet, his jacket and his keychain.

"Yes! Now things are looking up! Grab anything you might need. We might have to leave in a hurry."

Just as Harry said this the door burst open and five men poured into the room.

Waving his wand towards the grouped thugs Harry shouted "DEPULSO!".

The lead man flew off the ground with great force taking out two others behind him.

Switching to another target Harry blasted him with a Stupify, the bright red bolt of power lighting the room and hallway.

The last man went flying back from several shots from Felicity's pistol.

"Check them for ammo while I make sure everything is safe ahead in the hallway." Harry ordered as he hit all the men with stunners just to be safe.

"What the f^%k are you?" Felicity asked, pointing her gun in Harry's direction.

"Wizard, we can talk about it later."

Casting a Homenum Revelio Charm, better known as the Human Presence Revealing Charm, Harry could sense the presence of about ten people crowded together further down the hallway.

"Right, we have about ten bad guys down the hallway probably waiting to blast us the moment we step out." Harry thought out loud.

"So how about we give them something to shoot at then." Harry said, a small smile on his lips at a memory of Hermione being supremely annoyed at Ron.

In the hallway a group of heavily armed men and women were waiting for the strange boy and girl who they had seen on the security cameras take out five of their men and apparently the five who had gone into the room with little to no effort to come out.

"The second you see them come out empty your clips into them and keep shooting until you run out of ammo." the leader told the other nine remaining enforcers.

"Do you guys hear that?" asked one of the women.

The sound of cawing birds had slowly started rising in intensity.

"What the hell are they doing in there?" one man asked as the sound reached an incredible level.

"OPPUGNO!" a voice could be heard shouting from the storage room.

Suddenly the door to the storage room burst open and a massive flock of birds, ravens to be precise, burst out filling the corridor with mad cawing, charging towards the group like an ebony river of feathers.

Harry and Felicity lay on the ground behind a magically hardened table as Harry's army of conjured ravens attacked their captors. The sounds of screaming and gunfire could be heard in the distance.

Bullets pierced through the walls but were stopped by the Duro enchanted table. Harry hopped that none of the other prisoners would be hit by stray bullets.

After a few moments, the sounds quieted.

"Right. They should be injured and out of bullets. Wish me luck."

With that Harry strode out of the room. The hallway was covered in viscera and feathers from the dead ravens. At the end of the hallway, the small group of criminals were hastily tending to some of their wounded partners.

"DEPULSO! STUPIFY! INCARCEROUS!"

Harry carefully stunned any who still moved or moaned.

"Clear!" Harry called back.

"Ok, so we're not out of the woods yet, I need you to get the others from the rooms. There are still …" Harry concentrated a moment and cast the human revealing charm "... another three people further down. I don't know if they are hostile or not so I'll take point. Go and get the others and I'll hold this corridor."

Felicity nodded and quickly made her way to the 'cells' as they were known.

Harry took a few moments to reduce the amount of blood and guts in the hallway. He didn't really have the time or energy to properly repair the area but the amount of viscera on the floor made walking difficult and he really didn't need to waste time with people throwing up in the hallway at the site of all the gore.

Harry was also starting to feel magically exhausted. Casting all those avis spells with yet another concussion had started to take its toll on the wizard.

Felicity returned quickly with the remaining prisoners. Harry noted that a few of them had minor injuries, most likely from stray bullets.

"Ok. Follow my lead, don't go until I give you a signal. Once you get outside split up and run and find the police if you can. Don't worry about me. Now follow me." Harry told the group.

Harry pulled Felicity aside.

"Outside across the street is a motorcycle. Here is the key. You run over there with Samuel, jump on the bike and get it ready."

Making his way down the stairs Harry guided the group until they arrived at an intersection. Harry could tell that two of the remaining people were in a cross hallway just ahead. Also just ahead was the exit. Harry could no longer sense the third person.

Harry turned to Felicity. "Two to the right. I'll give you cover, get these people across as quickly as you can."

Felicity nodded. Harry took a deep breath and turned the corner hoping his protego could actually block bullets.

The moment he turned the corner a hail of bullets burst forth, one of them hitting Harry in the shoulder. Harry powered on through the pain and cast his shield charm, the bullets flattening against the blue glow , some ricocheting back towards the two gunmen.

"Go! Hurry!" Harry cried out to Felicity and the group of prisoners began running behind him.

Suddenly the barrage of bullets stopped, the two assailants weapons having apparently run out of ammunition. Harry dropped the protego.

"Alarte Ascendare!" one of the thugs flew up, slamming into the ceiling dropping back to the floor with a dull thump.

The other finished putting a new clip in his weapon and took aim but ducked behind cover as several bullets impacted near him from Felicity's pistol.

"They're out! Go, go!" Felicity screamed as she dragged Harry out of the building.

Exhausted and wounded, Harry stumbled out of the building and into the early morning light.

Samuel was waiting on the Triumph. Harry and Felicity quickly joined him, the triumphs seat adjusting itself to allow all three to sit, and Harry took off down the street.

The sound of screeching tires could be heard behind but Harry didn't dare take his eyes away from the road.

"F**k! Two bikes and an SUV are after us!" Felicity exclaimed.

One of the SUVs tires suddenly exploded as it turned a corner taking it out of the chase.

Harry increased the speed of the Triumph slightly.

"Can't this thing go any faster? Felicity asked as the other two motorcycles quickly gained ground.

"I only learned how to drive like two weeks ago. I'd rather not survive what we just did just to die because we crashed into a lamp post. On top of that there's three of us on here." Harry explained as he skidded down an alleyway suddenly.

A few extra twists and turns and Harry found himself on a highway.

Seeing the long open stretch of road Harry pressed one of the additions Mr. Wealsey had made to the bike.

A massive plume of fire burst from the Triumph's tailpipes propelling the motorcycle and it's riders at incredible speeds.

A sudden explosion forced Harry to glance at his mirrors momentarily. One of their pursuers had been far too close and had been hit by the blast from the DragonFire Accelerator.

A few exits away from the explosion, Harry pulled the off the highway, into a car park and dismounted.

"Samuel. There's a payphone just outside. Go and give your parents a call and see if they can come and pick you up. We'll wait for you here."

Samuel nodded earnestly and ran out of the parking structure.

Harry leaned back against a support column. His left arm hanging limply by his side.

"Can I ask you to help me out for a moment?" Harry asked.

Felicity nodded in response, the adrenaline apparently leaving her system.

"Can you take my jacket and shirt off. I think I was hit back there and I need to deal with that before I lose too much blood and pass out."

Felicity gently pulled his jacket and shirt off revealing a bad bullet wound.

"The bullet appeared to have missed the bones at least." Harry commented as he looked at the wound in the Triumphs mirrors.

While Harry was no medi-wizard, he had picked up a few spells useful in the field. As often as he was injured, it was a necessity.

"Vulnera Sanentur!" Concentrating on the spell and aiming his wand at his shoulder, his wound began to slowly close leaving an ugly scar.

Felicity stared in awe.

"One of the problems with that spell, it leaves a load of scar tissue." Harry explained.

Too magically exhausted, he decided against repairing and cleaning his shirt and jacket and simply put them both back on.

Leaning his head back against the support pillar Harry closed his eyes only to be awoken by Felicity.

"Dude! You can't fall asleep. I remember hearing that falling asleep after a head injury was dangerous so stay awake."

Harry nodded in thanks.

"So, what the actual f**k are you?"

Harry turned his head towards the girl and contemplated what to tell her, tired and not thinking clearly he opted for the truth.

"I'm a wizard from another dimension or reality. I'm from earth, just not this earth. At least as far as I can tell."

Samuel's return interrupted their conversation.

"My dad's on his way."

"That's good. You should be safe here. I'll head home now." Harry stood up to walk towards the bike but stumbled.

"Aright there Gandalf. You're not driving anywhere in the state you're in. I'll take you home." Felicity informed his as she grabbed the keys to the Triumph from his hands.

Harry made to protest but realised he was in no shape to drive or apparate.

"Thank-you. Thank-you so much. Te debo mi vida!"

Harry waved him off and climbed behind Felicity.

"Take care of yourself Samuel. Oh! Here Felicity. Geminio!" Harry offered, taking his helmet and duplicating it for her and marking the duplicate with a red spot of color. "It should last a couple of days before it starts to fall apart."

Giving her his address in Queens they drove off into the night.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry it took so long for this chapter. I had some other work to do and needed to rewrite this entire chapter since it didn't fit well in the Marvel universe (cinematic or otherwise).

These next couple of chapters are to establish Harry in the MCU. There's going to be more integration soon.

Ok so this chapter is why I put this story as "Rated M".

GUEST commented that Harry isn't stupid and wouldn't be so obvious with the magic use but actually he WANTS to be found … hopefully by other magicals so he needs to be a little obvious. He's not going to go on top of the Daily Bugle and start casting fiendfyre after calling all the local and national news media but he's hoping he shows up on someone's radar … hopefully someone friendly who knows about magic.

PHILOSOPHIZE pointed out my typos amd naming errors. I'll try to be better but I mostly work on this while on the bus to and from work on my phone.

RAJESHKONT mentioned the point me spell. That spell only points North (or so says the HP Wiki). While the mapping spell actually exists.

OTSUTSUKI mentions that there are other magicals in the Marvel Universe. I'm MOSTLY basing this on the MCU and currently there are only Sorcerers and their magic is different to Harry's. I'm going with the HP magic is internal ... genetic ... MCU Sorcerers get their power from other dimensions and god like beings like Dormammu, Cyttorak and Vishanti.

The Ancient one says so in the Dr. Strange movie ...

We harness energy... drawn from other dimensions of the Multiverse... to cast spells... to conjure shields... and weapons... to make magic.

… and it's more obvious in the animated films.

"By the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak I bind and contain thee."

 **-HPMCU-**

 **CHAPTER 6**

Harry woke up in his soft bed. Light streaming in from the window. His head pounded in pain and both shoulders ached.

Harry vaguely recalled the events of the previous night.

Opening his eyes and looking up at the sound of someone moving about his room.

Turning back Harry found a naked woman bent over rummaging in his trunk. Her upper body having completely disappeared inside the magically expanded trunk and her shapelly bare arse pointing towards him.

"Holy shit man! This thing is bigger on the inside!"

"By Merlin's Blue Balls!" Harry quickly turned around. "Why the bloody hell are you starkers!?"

"Oh come on! Don't tell me you're embarrassed. Prude!" she replied from within the trunk wiggling her bum suggestively.

"I just need to borrow some clothing. I've been wearing the same shit for the past month. Hey! Why do you have dresses in here?" she asked. "Look, if you're into cross dressing that's fine with me. Hey actually you might have some panties instead of just boxers so score!"

Harry turned around and tried to ignore the fact that a very naked and attractive woman was holding up his school robes in his room.

"That's not a dress! They are wizarding robes. They are actually my school uniform!" Harry replied indignantly.

"Sure looks like a dress to me. If it wasn't for the fact that I can see you're a little excited right now I'd say you were deep in the closet so I'll take you at your word." she replied bending back down into the trunk. "Then again … you might be playing for both teams. Hey! You DO have panties! Kinky!"

Harry twisted back to look at the girl with a puzzled expression and then remembered where the panties came from.

"Oh for crying out loud. Don't wear those they are from some of my … urgh … admirers." turning his back to the girl again.

"Kinky! You're famous or something? Aha! Here we go!" Harry turned around to see the girl slipping on a pair of boxers and one of his old quidditch jerseys. Somehow, that was worse than her being full monty.

"You could say that. Here. Let me get you some pants and socks."

Harry climbed out of bed and realised he was also naked. He gave Felicity an annoyed look as he covered his manhood.

"What? I needed to see if you'd been shot anywhere." Felicity explained as she eyed him critically. Harry went to the bathroom and grabbed his bathrobe.

Harry reached into his dresser and took out some pants and socks along with his quidditch boots and handed them to the girl.

"Ah clean clothes. You don't realise how much the little things like fresh clothes matter until you're stuck wearing the same panties for a month."

"So come on let's go to the kitchen and you can tell me all about yourself while you make me food. You sort of passed out when we got here last night. Pretty happy you didn't die on me."

Harry didn't bother asking the girl what she would like for breakfast and made a rasher of bacon and some eggs along with some tea.

"Thank-you for your help last night. It would have been a whole lot harder and messier otherwise." Harry explained as he moved the bacon on the frying pan.

"Well when you pulled a fucking huge sword out of a trashcan I figured you might actually be able to get us out of there." she explained as she poured a fourth spoonful of sugar into her tea. "Of course, I didn't know you weren't going to use it. You do know that the pointy bit goes INTO the other guy right?"

Harry shrugged as he sipped his tea. "They weren't very dangerous. I've killed before, killing is easy. It's easy to dehumanise your opponent but the man whose life you just ended might be a father or an uncle, he might not be there of his own will. When the odds are in my favor I try to use non lethal approaches."

"In your favor? I guess it was all part of your plan to be eating dirty carpet while some two bit thug dislocated your shoulder?" Felicity replied, raising an eyebrow incredulously.

"Well things would have been easier if I …"

Harry was interrupted by the doorbell.

"Are you expecting anyone?" Harry asked.

"Nope. Who the fuck would even know I'm here. You don't even have a phone for me to make a call with."

Harry drew his wand and moved to the door. The only person who knew Harry lived here would be Kate and they had parted ways at the Hostel.

Looking through the peephole Harry saw Mrs. Hernandez.

"Mrs. Hernandez? How can I help you?"

The woman rushed into the apartment and grabbed Harry in a rib crushing hug.

"¡Salvaste a mi chico!" she cried over and over. Behind her, Harry could see a man he assumed was her husband, a young girl around 11 as well as their son Samuel.

"Please come in."

Harry was suddenly aware that he was quite naked under the housecoat.

"Please, sit down. I'll just go get dressed quickly and be right back."

Harry returned a few moments later to find Mrs. Hernandez salvaging his forgotten breakfast.

"Oh Merlin. Thank-you Mrs. Hernandez." Harry exclaimed as he made his way to the oven.

"No. Go sit down and talk to my husband. We obviously interrupted your breakfast so it is the least I can do."

Harry grudgingly acquiesced and sat down at his kitchen table.

"I would like to thank you for what you've done for my family. I was originally angry with my wife for going to a what I believed was a scam 'mystic' but both she and my son say that you are real and since you returned my son to me … I have to put my skepticism and pride aside. Thank you for bringing my son back to us."

The man slid a small envelope towards Harry.

"I … I can't take this." Harry replied not even looking at the envelope.

"Why not? Did you not provide us with a service that my wife hired you for?"

"It feels wrong. It feels wrong taking money from someone who has less than I do for doing the right thing." Harry explained. "I don't mean to be insulting but I have enough money that, if I'm careful I could not work for the rest of my life."

"Tell me. Do policemen get paid? Firemen? Doctors? Nurses? Teachers? Soldiers? Why shouldn't you get paid? You say you have enough money to live forever? Then use this money to help people more."

The man slid the envelope closer to Harry who grudgingly accepted it and put it in his pocket without opening it.

Mrs. Hernandez brought Harry and Felicity their breakfast, gave Harry another hug and took her family home.

"You are so fucking adorably naive!" Felicity exclaimed.

"Dude! Don't give me that look." she exclaimed at his cross expression. "You started a business of solving peoples problems and then refuse to take their money when they hire you? That's insane. It's not like you're going around shaking people down for protection money … right?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders half in annoyance and half in agreement.

"So last night you started telling me about yourself. You're a wizard from another reality. What else can you tell me Gandalf?"

"You're not surprised?" Harry asked.

"Giant sword out of a trashcan, hundreds of birds from thin air, people being tossed around like rag dolls … I'd have to be pretty fucking stupid to deny it all. Now dish! This sounds fucking nuts and I want details."

"We can talk about it later. What are you going to do now that you're free? Do you need a lift to your parents or …"

Felicity's cocky smile fell.

"No. I'm an orphan. My dad died in some foreign shithole fighting a war and my mom was a junkie whore who od'd when I was 12. No aunts or uncles, no grandparents … nothing. Ended up on the street once I got out of the foster care system."

"Well, you can stay here for a few days while you figure something out if you like. I'll setup a spare room for you to use."

The girls expression changed into one of utter relief and gratitude for just a moment before returning to her cocky expression.

"Let's go shopping for a few items like a few clothes and some toiletries first." Harry offered

They went out shopping for some necessities and returned to his home.

Harry let her back in the apartment and, after locking his more dangerous or rare items in his trunk, went back to his office to properly store the Triumph.

Going back to his apartment he could hear Felicity in the shower. Going into the spare room he had considered turning into a laboratory or workshop, Harry transfigured some random debris into a bed and left some linens and blankets.

Undressing for the night, Harry slipped into his bed and considered his current situation.

The Hernandez's and Felicity were right. If he was to run a detective or troubleshooting business he would have to accept payment. His current wealth was significant but running a business, especially if he hired help in the future, could get rather expensive. He vaguely recalled Vernon mentioning that some companies daily operating budgets would empty his current accounts in one day.

His next problem was what to do with Felicity. He couldn't just have every homeless person live with him.

Like Hermione's quest to free the house elves by tricking them in accepting clothes was simply treating the symptom and not dealing with the actual problem of the wizardings world view of house elves, aiding each individual homeless person wasn't solving the problem, just treating the symptom. It was also impossible. Even with his funds he'd run out of money within a week just in New York.

Harry wasn't sure why he had extended the offer of a place to stay to the woman. Sure, she had saved his life but he knew nothing about her.

Thinking back to his world, Harry missed his friends terribly. Neville, Luna, Ginny and especially Ron and Hermione. He had grown so accustomed to Ron and Hermione's constant presence ... well more Hermione really. Ron had abandoned him a few times over the years.

Harry's musing were interrupted as the door to his bedroom creaked open. The light form the hallway cast Felicity in a sharp silhouette.

"Hey. Do you have everything you need?" Harry asked, shielding his eyes from the bright hallway light.

Felicity didn't answer and slowly entered the room, letting the bath towel that had been wrapped around her body slide to the ground.

"Uhm … are you ok?"

The girl didn't answer and simply slid under the blankets pressing her body up against Harry's side.

"Look, it's not that I don't think you are pretty or anything but I … I don't want this right now." Harry explained, not moving for fear of doing something inappropriate. He could feel the heat of her skin pressed against him. Her month long captivity had not been kind to her body but she was still a very pretty woman.

Suddenly he felt Felicity's body shake in small bursts followed by sobs.

"Why … why not? Am I not pretty enough? I know I'm skinny and my boobs aren't super big but ..."

Harry was dumbfounded.

"I don't … I'm not sure what's going on here. It's nothing to do with you or your looks. It's … we just met. I don't know why you are doing this."

"I .. I've got nothing else to offer you. You saved my life and this is all I've got."

Harry sighed softly.

"You don't owe me anything and you especially don't owe me that. Look, up until less than a month ago I was in my own reality in a long term relationship with a wonderful woman. We didn't break up, we were torn apart. I'm not ready for … this … and even if I was, I would never use someone like this."

"How are you so fucking noble?" she asked quietly "Most guys would have my ankles over their shoulder by now."

Harry's thought process ground to a halt for a moment as the images those words brought flittered through his mind.

"Look, you're welcome to sleep in my bed tonight but I'd be a bit more comfortable if you wore something." Harry finally replied after shifting his thought process back to the crying girl.

Felicity got up and dressed in his old Quidditch Jersey and a pair of knickers and then slid back in bed with him.

Harry spent a long night lying awake in bed, unable to sleep with a complete stranger in his bed.

The next week went by quickly.

Somehow, along the way, Felicity had decided she would be Harry's assistant. They had restructured the business floor and moved his office deeper inside with Felicity occupying a new reception area.

Felicity had brought some important skills to the business … computer skills.

After an expensive trip to an electronics store for a computer, tablet, smartphones and internet hookup she had also taken on the task of digitizing Harry's collection of books to preserve the knowledge kept in the one of a kind collection.

She had, also to Harry's amusement, made a simple website.

Harry had felt completely stupid as he struck various poses for the portraits needed for the website while Felicity snapped away with her cell phones camera.

Some of the images captured magic use that to most would simply appear to be digital manipulation.

Other than the impromptu photo sessions, this had freed Harry to pursue other projects.

Harry would spend some time in Central Park doing diagnostic charms to no avail and then would spend the rest of his time studying his books.

His first project was unraveling the spells that identified people on the Marauders map and the Omnioculars.

Between his charms books, Sirius's old notebook and ancient runes book Harry had managed to create a simple version of the Marauders map for his office and apartments.

It was thanks to this map that Harry had discovered Felicity's real name: Amanda Thorpe.

Harry had then gone and purchased several pairs of prescription glasses and was attempting to add the identification spell to the glasses.

After the excitement of his first case, things had quieted down.

Work had been sparse and of more mundane nature.

A husband had asked for proof his wife was cheating on him. Something the man could have confirmed for himself in one day.

A woman had asked to have her house checked for ghosts but in the end it had been nothing but a rat infestation and faulty wiring aggravated by the shaking caused by the train passing close by.

An elderly lady had asked for a prediction of her future. Harry had explained that divination was an imprecise science and that he was rather balls at it but had in the end, at her insistence, agreed to a tea leaf reading and had refused payment when the Grim had stared back at him from the bottom of the cup.

Time flew by and summer passed into fall.

That dreaded day, Halloween, was quickly approaching and Harry sat at his desk wondering if his curse would carry over to his new reality.

The bell on the door rang, breaking Harry's concentration on his work. Looking up to his map he noted that one Emily Thompson had entered and was speaking with Felicity.

Harry waited watching as Felicity and their potential new client approached his door and before Felicity could knock he took a page from Dumbledore's book and greeted them.

"Mrs. Thompson, please come in."

Harry did his best to hide his mirth at the woman's flabbergasted expression.

"Please sit down Mrs. Thompson. Would you like something to drink?"

She reminded Harry of what his aunt petunia aspired to be. An woman of means and respect.

The woman sat across from Harry. She was white, well dressed, wearing expensive appearing jewelry. She sported a calm and collected expression that didn't quite reach her eyes.

Her eyes were red from irritation of crying and heavy makeup attempted to hide heavy bags under her eyes.

"How did you know my name. I gave your … assistant … " she said these words with a level of disdain that Harry was all too familiar with. "... a false name."

"It's what I do for a living." Harry answered simply. "So what can I do for you."

The woman seemed to consider her words carefully, her hands nervously clutching her purse.

"This is ridiculous. I don't know what I was thinking coming here. You and that girl are just children." with this she stood up and made to leave his office.

"Emily!" Harry exclaimed softly causing the woman to stop in surprise.

"Something is obviously bothering you. You look exhausted and you're desperate enough to have walked into a shady looking business looking for help. Please, sit down and tell me your story and we can see if it's anything I can help you with."

The woman hesitated for a moment and sat back down. Harry took out a pad of paper and a fountain pen, a concession to his use of quills for the past decade, and waited patiently for the woman to begin.

"It's … oh god! I can't even start to explain, it sounds so stupid." the woman began.

"Just start from the beginning, you'd be surprised by the things I've seen or heard." Harry said comfortingly.

The woman stood up and moved to the window overlooking the busy street. She remained quiet for some time before quietly speaking.

"For the past month, my husband and I have been plagued by nightmares." She hesitated for a moment, looking back at Harry from the corner of her eye to gauge his reaction.

Harry looked up from writing some notes and nodded to her in encouragement.

"Every night for the past month we've been plagued by nightmares. Last week, my husband never woke up. He's in some type of coma in the hospital. The doctors have no idea what is causing it."

"Can you describe the dreams?" Harry asked.

"No, I can't remember much. All I remember is being chased in a maze I believe. It's all murky." she replied as she sat down.

"Did your husband dream the same thing?"

"No, he told me his involved fire somehow." she replied sitting back down.

"And it's the same dream? Every night?" Harry asked.

The woman simply nodded.

Harry finished his notes and pondered. He had enough materials left over to brew a few doses of dreamless sleep potion but his reserves of the standard ingredients as well as the flobberworm mucus was currently irreplaceable while the others were widely available in the normal world. The flobberworm was really only a thickening agent but the standard ingredients, a standard mix of magical herbs, could not be found in this reality.

"Maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way … treat the cause and not the symptom." Harry whispered softly to himself. Harry could extract the memory and replay it in his pensive but that might be a little too obviously magical and after his rather gryphindoorish first case, a more slytherin approach would be needed … of course there was nothing for him to blow up … yet.

Taking another page from Dumbledore's book would unfortunately require using a skill he was dreadful at.

"I'd like to try something with you. I'd like to try and bring the memory of your dream back. Are you willing to try?"

"You mean like hypnosis?"

"Something like that." Harry agreed, decided that would be close enough to the truth.

"What do I need to do?" she asked.

"Please sit down. Now I need you to clear your mind of though and focus only on your memory of the dream. When you are ready I need you to look me in the eyes." Harry directed.

The woman closed her eyes and steadied her breathing.

While the woman had her eyes closed Harry silently cast a very mild cheering charm hoping it would have more of a calming effect.

Harry could see some of the tension leave them woman's shoulders as her worries apparently lessened.

The woman slowly opened her eyes and nodded at Harry.

Harry looked deep into her eyes and silently and surreptitiously cast his spell sending himself into the woman's mind.

Harry found himself floating inside an endless black starfield. He knew, from his self study of legilimency and occlumency, that each star represented a memory.

The woman had done an amazing job at focusing her thoughts on the memory of her dream. Only a handful of other memories floated around him.

Harry approached the nearest sphere and looked inside, not entering the memory itself.

Inside Harry could see a hospital scene, a man was lying on a bed and a doctor was speaking to her.

Harry pushed the memory away and pulled another. In this memory the woman was reading the mail at her kitchen table. Harry could see some hospital correspondence but what drew his attention was the flyer the woman was reading at the time. The flyer was made of parchment and had his name on it.

Curious, Harry entered the memory.

Unlike a pensieve, legilimency locked the user in the with their victims view, a simple passenger looking from the targets point of view.

Early morning light filtered through the kitchen windows. Soft music played from the radio the DJ indicating that the weather would be cold and that the date was only two days previous.

Harry focussed back on the pamphlet in the woman's hands. It was made of actual parchment or rather velum based on the feel of the material.

The colorful calligraphy appeared to be hand painted with elegant brush strokes and colorful inks.

"Harry Potter, wizard for hire! Problems solved with arguable efficiency."

One half of the scroll had a very stylised silhouette of himself. The other half had harry's address.

What concerned Harry was that neither he nor Felicity had created a flyer amd he had not used a piece of parchment, much less velum, since his arrival in New York preferring the convenience of modern paper

Harry pushed himself away from the memory and searched about for the one that would show how she got the document but couldn't find it.

"I've wasted enough time on this I guess." Shrugging his metaphysical shoulders, Harry returned to the task at hand.

Searching amongst the small cluster of memories, Harry finally found the one he had been looking for.

Harry entered into the dream and was assaulted by the woman's feelings of blind panic. It was night and they were running through a hedge maze of some type with walls that reached over twenty feet high.

The memory didn't feel like a normal memory, it had a sense of hyper reality that was not normally found in memories viewed with legilimency and especially not normally found in dreams.

Somewhere in the distance a deafening, inhuman roar was heard and the heavy thumping sound of hooves on the ground.

The woman kept running, her legs pumping as fast as they could, branches sometimes slapping at her exposed flesh.

Harry could feel the cold air on her nude body, could feel the twigs and branches scratching and stabbing at her bare feet.

Emily came to a dead stop. A man with a chaotic mane of spikey grey haired, pure white skin dressed in green with a tattered flowing cloak emerged slowly from the shadows ahead.

The man was inhumanly thin and sported an impossible, maniacal smile. His eyes were pure black and seemed to absorb the little light available.

"Oh! What do we have here? A new plaything to add to my collection?"

The man or creature began to laugh maniacally causing Emily to start running again down another side path.

In the distance, Harry could hear the creature call out. "There's no point in running. You will never escape."

The creature began cackling again but the sound seemed to come from all directions at once.

Emily collapsed as the fear overcame her, falling to her knees and gasping for breath between panicked sobs.

The sounds of something large and fast brought the woman back to her feet and stumbling forward again.

Harry could feel something pursuing them, gaining ground. The sound of hooves clomping on earth getting closer and closer.

Harry, deciding he had enough information for now attempted to leave the memory but it seemed to resist his effort.

The memory continued through his efforts. Emily fell to the ground and quickly rolled onto her back to face her pursuer.

The creature resembled some kind of demonic centaur crossbreed. It's centaur form twisted and inhuman. Under its horse body a massive and erect member indicated it's intended action.

The demonic cackling laughter increased in volume and pitch as the creature slowly approached Emily frantically scrambling backwards.

With a great mental shove Harry managed to push himself out of the memory and out of Emily's consciousness.

The woman cried out in fear and pain, collapsing in a dead faint unto Harry's desk.

Felicity rushed into the office a pistol in hand.

"What the fuck is going on in here?!"

Harry took a few calming breaths before answering.

"That's what I'd like to know."


	7. Chapter 7

**Author Notes**

I had a comment about my OC Felicity.

I'm normally not a huge fan of OC's myself but as the story progresses she'll become less important, kind of like Pepper Potts, Betty Ross, Jane Foster, Warrior's Three …

A few people have also mentioned that Harry isn't brutal enough.

Yes, Harry does suffer from Dumbledoreitiss. It's a question of his upbringing. Dumbles forged him into what he now is. On the other hand, I feel that most MCU "Heroes" are pretty brutal. Iron Man, War Machine, Falcon, Black Widow (obviously) frequently kill people in cold blood.

There are very few non-lethal heroes. Doctor Strange (to an extreme extent where he negotiates with a reality ending elder god ... DORMAMMU I'VE COME TO BARGAIN), Spiderman, Daredevil … that's it really.

CHAPTER 7

Harry sat in a comfortable chair in his living room surrounded by books on divination, occlumency, a book on wards, the few tomes he had brought from the Black library and a notepad covered with notes and observation.

Mrs. Thompson was lying on his couch in his apartment still unconscious from the trauma of reliving her nightmare.

Harry had thrown together a few quick and dirty wards meant to protect against evil spirits but they were un-anchored and potentially powerless anyway since Harry was not even certain if the Thompsons were the victims of a vengeful spirit or spirits.

"Urgh, where am I?"

Harry marked his page on dream interpretation and carefully put his divination book down and turned to address his now waking client.

"You're in my living room Mrs. Thompson. You had a bit if a shock when I made you relive your nightmare … sorry."

The woman slowly sat up on the couch and accepted a glass of water Harry had conjured, not that she had noticed in her half aware state.

"I can remember it much better now. What does it mean?" she asked as she sat back on the couch, raising her knees to her chest.

Harry thought over his response for a few moments. He was not trained for this type of situation, he knew next to nothing about psychology other than the bits and pieces Hermione had fed him over the years to help him cope with his own horrible life.

The last time Harry had come face to face with the personification of his greatest fear, all he had had to do was laugh at it and shout 'Ridikulus' to make it go away. Harry seriously doubted that what he was facing here was a boggart.

"I'm not sure …" Harry began hesitantly.

"I'm looking into a few things." Harry replied indicating the piles of books.

Harry took a moment to collect his thoughts.

"Why was the creature chasing you a centaur?"

"I'm not sure what you mean." she offered hesitantly.

Harry decided to try another approach.

"Well … why was your husband dreaming of fire? Why is he afraid of fire?"

"When he was a child, around 7 years old, his house caught fire and he was trapped on the second floor. His entire room was in flames until a firefighter rescued him. He has burn scars on his legs."

Harry nodded silently.

"So why are you having nightmares about centaurs?" Harry asked.

"I … I don't know." she replied hesitantly.

Harry stared her in the eyes and attempted a subtle mental probe but between his lackluster skills and her confused emotional and mental state, he was only getting a migraine as memories flitted through his mind's eye at a dizzying pace.

"I think we had a good start. I think, with your permission, we'll go and have a visit with your husband and see if we can find out more. We can talk or meet up tomorrow after noon and see what our next steps will be." Harry offered.

"Yes. My husband is at the …"

Harry interrupted her, having seen the hospital name in her memories previously as he searched for her memory of the nightmare.

"The New York-Presbyterian Hospital."

"How … how do you know?" she asked hesitantly.

"It's my job to know." Harry added in a lackluster attempt at appearing wise and mysterious.

"So, there is something going on?" she asked hesitantly "Are we being haunted or …"

"I think there's more to these nightmares but I don't know what for sure. We need more information." Harry explained as he guided the woman through his sparsely furnished apartment.

"If you go downstairs to my office, Felicity will get your contact information. We'll do some digging and get back to you in a day or so or earlier if anything comes up."

The woman thanked him and made her way back to his office while Harry returned to his trunk.

"I closed up shop for the day. I called her a cab and sent her home."

Harry looked up from his trunk as he pulled out his invisibility cloak, his omnioculars, an extendable ear, an old half empty bottle of dreamless sleep potion and a small basic ward kit.

"So what's the story?" Felicity asked from her position by Harry's bedroom door.

"A haunting or curse maybe? Her memory of her dream was weird … I'm not the greatest with legilimency but that memory felt weird. We're going to head over to the New York-Presbyterian Hospital and see if the doctors have any information. I also have a few tricks I can try so we can see."

"You can read people's thoughts?" Felicity asked with interest and a little trepidation.

"Not exactly." he replied. "I can see memories and I'm pretty horrible at it."

Arriving at the hospital, Harry found a quiet corner and shrunk the Triumph down, concealing it in his pocket.

The judicious application of a confundus charm at the reception desk aided in locating Mr. Thompson's room.

The hospital was still quite busy considering the late hour but a weak notice-me-not charm guaranteed that the hospital staff did not disturb them.

"Room 405." Felicity said as she pointed down the hall to a set of double doors."Seems like there's someone in there. Can we just walk in?"

Harry looked through the windows of the double door and shook his head.

The room was a large windowless ward that contained twelve beds with eight of them occupied. The beds were surrounded by high tech machinery, the significance of which were lost to Harry.

The lights were turned down low and a pair of doctors were speaking in animated but hushed tones. A young clean shaved doctor appeared exasperated with his female counterpart.

"No, the notice me not charm makes people less likely to pay attention or notice us as long as we aren't too out of place or if they aren't specifically looking for us. My friend Hermione used to call it an SEP field."

"SEP?"

"Somebody Else's Problem. We're not invisible, just someone else's problem." Harry explained as he took out the extendable ear and directed it towards the occupants of the room.

"… toxicology reports have come back with nothing. MRI shows hyperactivity, their brains are lit up like christmas trees so something is going on but there is no physical trauma, no toxicological indicators, no virus, no parasite, no common environmental factors … Christine, I've got nothing to work with here."

The man sounded exasperated.

The woman sighed in defeat.

"I know Stephen, I was hoping with your attention to detail that you'd notice something. We're getting two more transfers and there's talk of the CDC coming in and taking over if we get anymore cases."

The man scoffed. "Those idiots wouldn't know the cerebrum from the cerebellum."

"We're not all super genius prodigies like you Stephen and I'm sure the doctors at the CDC think the same of us. Were also only just about to finish our residency so they might have a bit more reason to think we don't know what we're talking about. Anyways, I have some more rounds to do. Let me know if you think of anything because I'm fresh out of ideas."

"Are we still on for tomorrow night?" the man asked as he made to follow the woman back towards the doors.

Harry quickly withdrew the extendable ear and dragged felicity into a patient's room. Thankfully the three men in the room appeared to be sleeping.

"I thought you said they'd ignore us."

"I'm pretty sure standing around a restricted area dressed like we are would get their attention." Harry clarified as he poked his head out of the partially opened door.

Seeing the retreating forms of the doctors Harry pulled Felicity along with him into the ward and gently closed the doors.

"What are you doing now?"

Harry took out a small notepad from his pockets and after consulting his notes, began drawing some runes in chalk on the doors.

"Just adding a quick and dirty muggle repelling ward. Just enough so that people coming here without a very good reason will feel the need to turn back and go do something else like take a break or check on another patient. Unless it's really important for them to be here like an alarm goes off or critical medication needs to be administered. No ward stone and done in chalk so it won't last long but it should give a bit of time to check things out."

As Harry finished his explanation, he also finished inscribing the runes unto the door. A small blue flash after Harry activated the ward with his wand, confirming that the ward had just successfully activated.

"It's the first ward anyone learns when learning about warding and one of the simplest and most common wards where I come from. Unless they are magical, really strong willed or have an overwhelming purpose they'll be affected by the ward."

Harry walked over to Mr. Thompson's bed and pulled the chart attached to the end of the bed.

"Right! This might as well be written in Gobbledygook for all I can understand." Harry mumbled.

Felicity took the clipboard from his hands and began snapping pictures of the different pages using her cellphone camera.

"Might be able to do some research later." she explained in response to his puzzled expression.

Harry walked about the room looking at the various machines monitoring the patient's health. None of it was familiar to him. There were other patients and Harry assumed they were in a similar situation to the Thompsons.

"Done! What's next?" Felicity asked as she put her phone away.

"I'm going to try something stupidly reckless." Harry explained. "I'm going to try and view his dream. Dreams are just memories so I'm hoping this will work. If not then I'll try and give him a small dose of dreamless sleep potion hoping it'll break the nightmare but I don't know what drugs they have them under and how they might interact with the potion so I hope I won't have to try that."

Harry pulled a chair next to Mr Thompson's bed and gently turned the man's head towards him.

"If I'm in there for more than five minutes break my eye contact and that should pull me out. Also try and keep an eye on the hallway in case someones breaks through the repelling ward."

Felicity positioned herself by the doors and nodded back at Harry.

Harry took a calming breath and spelled his targets eyes open.

"This is not going to be fun." Harry murmured before vocalising the spell and plunging into the man's mind.

After a short but blinding kaleidoscope of colors Harry found himself inside a kitchen of an apartment instead of the typical memory starfield.

"Oooookkkk … this is new!" Harry whispered softly to himself.

The apartment was darkly lit with only the humm of the refrigerator breaking the silence.

The furniture was an older style of cheap furniture made of lacquered wood and chrome tubes. On the refrigerator were children's drawings.

The whole room also appeared sized for someone of Hagrid's proportions.

Harry looked around and noticed a few strange details. The first being that all the doors were closed and the second was a complete lack of windows.

Harry walked towards one of the doors and stopped dead in his tracks.

"How am I in control?" Harry quietly asked himself. Legilimency after all was always from the targets point of view. "Oooooh this is NOT good!"

Before he could spend more time pondering this question, one of the three doors in the room burst open and Howard Thompson, dressed in some singed kids disney jammies, rushed in quickly slamming the door and running to the next closest door without stopping.

"Mr. Thompson?"

The man skidded to a stop, his momentum carrying him off balance and slamming him into the refrigerator door.

"What? Who?" the man asked bewildered.

"My name is Harry Potter Mr. Thompson. Your wife sent me to help you." Harry explained while raising his hands in a sign of peace.

"No! This is another trick! You're part of this aren't you!" the man accused as he reached into a kitchen drawer and took out a large knife. The disproportionately large knife looked more like a machete in the man's hands.

Harry pulled out his wand and wordlessly disarmed the man. The knife flying and embedding itself into the wall.

"This isn't a trick Mr. Thompson. Can you tell me what is going on?"

The man's shoulder lost some of its tension and a little hope appeared to enter his eyes but that hope was short lived as his eye darted to the door he had just entered from. Smoke was billowing from the cracks of the door.

"We have to go!" he cried out. "The fire is catching up to me again!"

The man rushed past Harry and through a door. They entered a living room that contained four doors. Like the kitchen, the living room had an older style of furniture. Flower patterns and odd shapes being very dominant.

"Where are we going Mr. Thompson?" Harry asked as stared at the man as he seemed to evaluate the room.

"It's a maze of some sort … we're in a never ending maze of different versions of my parent's apartment." the man explained as he moved to a door an gingerly touched the door handle before moving to another.

"If the fire catches me it burns me alive and then it starts all over again!"

The man stopped halfway to the other door and turned to Harry his eyes pleading for an answer. "Am I ... am I in Hell?"

Harry noticed smoke coming from the door they had just existed and grabbed Mr. Thompson by the arm as he made his way to the next door.

"No. You're asleep or in a coma. You're actually at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital in an intensive care ward." Harry explained.

"Now, now … that just won't do!" Harry recognized the voice immediately. It was the voice of the man, if he could be called as such, from Mrs. Thompson's dream. The tall man with white alabaster skin, dressed in green.

The door Mr. Thompson had inspected originally, opened and in walked the creature itself. Unlike Harry and Howard, it was at a size appropriate for the rooms furnishings making it appear as tall as Hagrid when Harry had been just eleven years old.

Through the door, Harry could see a long hallway filled with doors and fire. The fire was slowly approaching their location.

Taking a step in front of Mr. Thompson, Harry drew his wand and faced the creature.

"Back again I see little sorcerer?" the creature asked as it dropped itself heavily unto the sofa.

"We didn't really have a chance to chat last time you were in my realm." he explained as he gestured around.

"We've never met." Harry began.

"Oh but we did! It was briefly and you so rudely left before we had a chance for a proper little chat." the creature interrupted. "I don't often have new playthings pop in unexpectedly like you did."

'Oh! What do we have here? A new plaything to add to my collection?' the words the creature had spoken inside Mrs. Thompson's memory of the dream.

"You weren't talking to Mrs. Thompson … you were talking to me. But that was a memory not a dream …"

"My power … lingers … you could say." the creature replied, waving its hand in a negligent manner.

"Mr Thompson, run, I'll try and keep this creature busy and I'll try and find you. Try and leave me a sign so I can follow your trail."

The man did not need to be told twice and bolted through the nearby door.

"And what do you think that will achieve little sorcerer?" the creature asked, seemingly amused.

"Do you really think he can escape from here? I rule this realm, it obeys my will!"

As the creature said this, the fire in the hallway stopped progressing and seemed to change direction.

"But you. You are quite interesting now aren't you." suddenly Harry could feel some type of probing of his mind. It was not legilimency in any form he had ever felt, nor was it Riddles attempts at possession, it was something else entirely.

Harry marshaled his meager mental defenses and attempted to keep the creature from his thoughts.

"Hunh! Well, that's interesting." the creature exclaimed as it leaned forward with interest.

"You're not a sorcerer now are you … no you're quite different. Now let's find out what fuels YOUR nightmares."

With a casual wave of it's hand, Harry felt his defences crumble and his mind torn open.

"Oh! Now this is interesting indeed. You aren't a piddling little sorcerer after all but a traveler from another reality."

"Hum, you don't have too many fears now do you." the creature asked, it's expression changing from amusement into something unreadable.

"Zombies? Really? Laaaame!" the creature hummed and hawed for a few more moments.

"Ah! What are THESE?!"

Shadows began to coalesce in the center of the room and within moments a Dementor had formed.

"Now these … Dementors … are quite interesting and will make an interesting addition to my … ménagerie."

Harry could feel the dementors effect as a deep despair settled over his mind.

Focusing on a Happy memory proved to be far more difficult than he expected. The happiness of the memory of Sirius offering him a home had dulled significantly with the man's passing causing only a mist shield.

Focusing on another memory, Harry thought of the day he and Ginny had first made love in the Room of Requirement. It had been an awkward affair with blushes and awkward fumblings but the intimacy of the act more than the act itself had filled Harry with joy. Harry and Ginny had opened themselves to each other in a way Harry never conceived of before.

But as the joy that memory brought forward began to fill him, it quickly dissipated as Harry remembered that he would most likely never see the woman ever again.

The Dementor floated closer, the air freezing despiste the heat from the burning hall just beyond, as Harry scrambled to find a Happy memory.

Reaching further into his memories Harry found one that was perhaps not as strong as his old memories were but remained untainted.

Harry pulled up the memory of Hermione rushing into the great hall in second year after being restored from her petrification and hugging him. It had been the first hug Harry had received that he had not cringed away from.

This memory was not tainted by Harry's new reality. No matter what happened, Harry HAD saved his best friend and he remembered the joy and relief that she was well and safe.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A silvery snowy owl leapt from Harry's wand, bathing the living room in bright silver light.

It had come as a surprise to Harry when he had been asked to lead a class on the patronus in his last year that his had changed from Prongs to Hedwig but it had been fitting as she had given her life to protect him, taking a death curse in his place during his final escape from Privet Drive.

The fear and despair lifted as the dementor was harried out the door and into the hallway. Once out of the room, Harry magically closed and sealed the door.

"Like I said, interesting, but you don't really FEAR them, no … you have an understanding of the danger they pose but you know how to fight them. What do you truly fear?"

Harry could feel the probe intensify and dig deeper into his mind making its way to his most protected thoughts.

"You don't fear for your own life." An image of Harry, in second year, kneeling in front of of basilisk appeared in the center of the room. It was the moment a twelve year old Harry had come to grips with his own mortality. He had accepted his death, having saved his best friends sister.

"You aren't afraid of monster or maniacs." images of dragons, dementors, boggarts, werewolves, Barty Crouch Jr., Bellatrix and Riddle flitted into existence only to quickly disappear.

"You don't fear your friends dying or abandoning you since they are in another reality." the creature continued.

"So what DO you fear?"

In the center of the room appeared three items: a cloak, a ring and a wand.

Harry burst into action and sent a cutting curse followed by a bludgeoning curse through the three items floating before him, the spells cutting and then slamming the being through the living room wall and into a child's bedroom.

"Have I hit a nerve? Well, not literally of course not yet anyways." the creature taunted as it pulled itself out of the whole Harry's spells had created.

It appeared un-harmed by the spells Harry had used.

"Your reality had such interesting creatures!"

Two large acromantulas burst through the door Harry and Mr. Thompson had entered from.

Harry transfigured the living room table into a large black dog and was surprised it had taken the form of Padfoot.

Not letting his surprise hinder him, Harry followed that spell with a series of cutters at one of the spiders as Padfoot charged the other.

Harry's cutters sliced most of his spiders legs making the creature flop on the floor helplessly allowing him to turn his attention back to the alabaster skinned being.

Harry was just able to roll to the side to avoid a beam of purple light coming from the creatures hand. Harry returned fire with a chain of powerful explosive spells.

The being dodged one, swatted the second away but was thrown backwards again by the third.

Not waiting to see if the spells affected his opponent, Harry turned around and dashed through the door that Mr. Thompson had used to leave the room.

Harry stopped and sealed the door and began searching the room for a sign of where Mr. Thompson had gone.

The beings voice rang through the room, coming from everywhere yet nowhere at once. "No, it's not the items themselves you fear now is it?"

Harry noticed one of the door frames had a mark on it as if it had been hit by a blunt object. Harry ran towards the door and opened it.

Beyond the door was a long apartment hallway with twelve doors and no stairway doors at each end as would be normal for a real apartment hallway. To his right, Harry could see flames quickly approaching.

Hoping that Mr. Thompson had gone left, Harry began running. None of the doors on the left were marked.

"No, it's what they represent … what they COULD mean for you ..." the voice had changed form a taunting tone to a more cautious one.

Turning to face the fast approaching flames Harry cast a charm.

"I hope this works".

Harry walked into the flames. Instead of pain and unbearable heat, Harry was met with a soft summer breeze and a slight tickling sensation as the Flame Freezing charm did it's work.

Harry followed this charm with a bubble head charm to counter the smoke.

"NO!" the beings voice echoed throughout the hallway in rage as the flames apparently intensified but Harry remained protected.

"I RULE the dream dimension! My will is LAW!" the words were full of command but Harry could also detect some fear.

Running through the next door, Harry found a circular room with all walls covered in doors, twenty-two of them in total. The room was ablaze already.

"Oh come on! That's cheating!" Harry huffed in exasperation as he searched for a sign of where Mr. Thompson had gone. "Homenum Revelio!"

Harry received a ping and opened the corresponding door, opening into a child bedroom. Flames and smoke filled the small room.

Mr. Thomspon huddled in a corner of the room, as far from the flames as he could.

"Mr. Thompson! I'm here to help you. Take my hand!" Harry exclaimed as he offered his hand.

"NO!" The voice ripped through the room, warping reality. The walls and floor began to ripple finally shattering, causing the two men to fall into darkness.

"LUMOS SOLEM!" Harry cried out, pouring more power into the spell as the air whosswed past.

The darkness receded to the overpowered lighting spell and Harry could see the pyjama clad form of Mr. thompson still falling further down.

Instinct acquired from years of whizzing about in the air on broomsticks kicked in and Harry changed his body angle to greatly accelerate his descent. Slowly Harry caught up to Mr. thompson and grabbed his arm.

"Mr. Thompson!" Harry screamed against whistling wind. "This is just a dream or a nightmare. you need to take control of it."

Looking over the man shoulder, Harry noticed a small floating piece of land appear in the distance below them.

"You heard that monster! He rules this place!"

"If he rules this place, why is he so worried? Why hasn't he stopped me?" Harry countered.

Mr. thompson stared back at Harry in terrified incomprehension.

The ground was coming in closer and closer.

"Yes! He's powerful but I don't think his power is absolute … I think there are rules and limitations. Hang on!" Harry exclaimed as they neared the ground.

"ARRESTO MOMENTUM!" the spell caught both men, slowing their descent to a gentle fall only about 10 meters from the surface of the small floating island.

They gently landed only a few moments later.

"Mr. thompson. I might not be here for much longer. My assistant might wake break my connection at any time. I don't know if time passes normally here. This is your dream! You need to take control! You need to ..."

"NO!" the sky filled with a vision of the creature who controlled the dream dimension. It's eyes were the size of small houses. "You DARE invade MY REALM and impose YOUR WILL! I don't care what power you are, I … will … not … be ... DENIED!"

Acromantulas began climbing over the edge of the floating island from all sides. They varied in size from large dogs to small cars and numbered in the hundreds if not more with their numbers increasing every second.

Harry snapped his wand out causing a thing thread of fire over 50 feet line length to burst into existence. Whirling his wand overhead caused the flame whip to clumsily twirl and snap about in a circle.

The first acromantula hit was sliced cleanly in two.

"See! If he was all powerful he'd have snuffed us already. He wouldn't bother with spiders and mazes …"

Harry made an awkward flick of his wand causing the flame whip to hit a spider that had attempted to jump but also coming very near to Mr. Thompsons legs.

"... he holds no power over you … or only as much power as you let him have. Remember, you were saved from the fire at your parents home."

The spiders advance continued and Harry's fire whip proved to be ineffectual. Raising both arms in the air he summoned a firestorm, the same spell that Dumbledore had used against the inferi

Slowly waving his wand over his head a torrent of flame quickly encircled the two men incinerating the acromantula and setting the island a flame.

"SAY IT!" Harry cried out not daring to pull much of his focus away from the dangerous spell.

"NO!" the voice cried out in anger.

"You have no power over me!" The moment the words were spoken, everything disappeared and Harry fell backwards from his chair in the hospital ward.

"Bloody Hell!" Harry swore as he gathered his senses. His body was covered in sweat.

"Boss?" Felicity called out as she slid down next to Harry.

"I'm fine Felicity. That was just unexpected."

"What … what do we do next?"

Before Harry could answer a cacophony of beeps and wails erupted all around the room.

"Now what?"

All the patients other than Mr. Thompson appeared to be convulsing, their monitoring equipment flashing red and sounding various alarms.

After a second or two a screeching wail filled the ward and the temperature dropped to freezing. Shadowy tendrils burst from inside the patients oxygen masks engulfing the entire room and it's occupants in complete darkness.

A crushing sense of fear and despair crashed into Harry bringing him to his knees.

"Nothing you can do can same you from this." a sly insidious voice whispered in his ear. "You are alone, you'll always be alone for the rest of your short meaningless life."

Managing to fight through the despair and fear. Harry lit his wand, the light coming in soft and feeble, only illuminating a small circle.

Turning his head he could see Felicity, tears streaming down the cheeks, a shaking hand slowly bringing a pistol to rest under her jaw.

"She's going to die, just like everyone else in your life."

Harry focused on the fear and despair. It was something he had faced time and time again. Pain and fear were familiar to him. Boggarts, Dementors … Death. It was something he had conquered!

Drawing on his happiest memory, even if it was now bittersweet, that night in the forest when Sirius had offered to take him in his home.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Hedwig leapt from Harry's wand, shining brightly in the inky darkness.

The fear and despair lifted as the darkness receded, screeching as if in pain. Hedwig's radiance corralling the darkness into a small croner and compressing it further and further until, with a mind searing wail it disappeared.

All around them, medical equipment sparked and exploded in the presence if the powerful magics, bringing a modicum of quiet.

Letting the spell drop, Harry rushed to Felicity and gently took the pistol from her shaking hands.

"It's alright. Everything is alright. It's gone." Harry whispered reassuringly.

"W …. Ww..ww what the actual fuck was that!"

"Not sure, a demon of some type like an overpowered Dementor or a Boggart … demons from my world. The first one feeds on happy memories and souls and the other uses your fear to protect itself. This was kind of like that but one hundred times worse."

Harry gave the girl a quick hug and cast a mild cheering charm before dragging felicity to an out of the way corner and draping his invisibility cloak over the both of them and dispelling his hastily erected wards.

"Be quiet! They won't see us."

Within seconds, the doors crashed open as a large group of nurses, doctors and security personnel rushed into the room.

"What the hell happened here?" a male nurse asked looking over the damage done to the room.

"Patients first, gawking second Willis!" the doctor from earlier barked as he moved to the nearest patient and connected them to some equipment they had rolled into the room.

Harry and Felicity watched in silence as the medical teams moved from patient to patient.

"Christine. You getting the same results I am?"

"Makes no sense! I want them moved to another ward and we need to run a proper battery of tests than what we can do with the portable gear but … they seem better? What the hell happened here Stephen?"

Having heard enough, Harry pulled Felicity up, hoping they would not be noticed in the darkened corner, thankful that the magical battle had destroyed all the light fixture as well as they sensitive medical equipment.

"Take a deep breath and hand on tight." Harry whispered into Felicity's ear before apparating them both back to their home with a soft crack.


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you all for the reviews. I do appreciate all the reviews even the critical ones since that's the only way people can improve.

I have to say I had a lot of trouble writing the previous chapter (chapter 7) so it took a while to get it out. I've also gotten a bit of a plot bunny for a crack fic that sidetracked me for a while. :)

Also, I'm really not super happy with this chapter … it feels ...rushed. It took me months to write it and it feels .. meh.

The next chapter is going to be easier to write and is actually partially written already.

Felicity calls the big bad Freddy Krueger IT'S NOT FREDDY, it's an actual marvel (comics) CANONICAL villain specifically from the Doctor Strange rogues gallery. It's just Felicity making pop culture references.

TRIGGER WARNING. Not going to say what it's about but it should be fairly obvious as you read. Let's just say it gets pretty dark, outside my comfort zone to write normally.

* * *

With a soft crack they landed in a pile in their living room.

Harry turned over at the sound of Felicity emptying the contents of her stomach all over the floor.

"What the fuck was that!"

"Apparition." Harry answered handing the girl a conjured glass of water. "It's not the most pleasant of means of travel but this was especially bad since I hadn't ever really practiced side along apparition before."

"It's unpleasantly like being drunk." Felicity replied.

"What's so unpleasant about being drunk?" Harry replied. He had never managed to get blind drunk, unlike the other members of the DA, but had had a few drinks in his last year at Hogwarts and remembered the feeling of light intoxication as being a somewhat pleasant if fleeting sensation.

"Just ask a glass of water." she replied absentmindedly as she steadied herself on the couch.

Harry simply nodded in understanding. Apparition did feel like being sucked up a hose or straw, at least the first few times.

"Check yourself to make sure we didn't leave a limb or other bit back there."

"What?!"

"It's called splinching. If you mess up your apparition, you can end up leaving bits of yourself back where you left." Harry replied as he absentmindedly patted himself down. "Never happened to me and I apparate quite a bit but this is the first time I do a side along so …"

Felicity sat down on couch wearily.

"So … I have … questions."

"You and me both." Harry cut in, dropping heavily into his favorite chair.

"That, thing … that beautiful creature made of light that made the fear and shadow go away. What was it?"

"A Patronus charm. It summons a protector spirit from your magic and your happiness. Let see if I remember the description from the book. _A magical guardian, a projection of all your most positive feelings. A guardian which generally takes the shape of the animal with whom they share the deepest affinity._ Mine used to look like my dad. He could change into an animal, a stag. But it changed to my familiar Hedwig, she died protecting me from a dark curse."

"Can ... can you summon it again?" Felicity asked.

Harry nodded and focused on a happy memory. "Expecto Patronum!"

Hedwig leapt from Harry's wand and seemed to look around for a threat to face. Not finding one she approached Harry and Felicity.

"Hello old girl! Thanks for the help."

Felicity looked at Hedwig with awe, fear receding further and disappointment apparent in her face as the owl faded away.

"So, what … what happened when you went into Mr. Thompson?"

Harry explained the events that happened within the dream.

"So this guy is basically Freddy Krueger?"

"Who?"

"This really old movie called A Nightmare on Elm Street?"

"Again, pop culture references don't work with me." Harry explained with a shrug.

"He's the main character from a series of horror movies. He's a child murderer who became a demon after he was killed by the neighbours parents. He hunts the kids of his killers in their nightmares."

"Sounds pretty accurate." Harry agreed.

"We'll rent the movies and do some research. Maybe it was inspired by encounters with this Big Bad?"

Harry shrugged noncommittally.

"We should probably inform Mrs. Thompson that she might get a call from the hospital." Harry suggested.

Felicity took out her phone and looked at it in confusion. "My phone is on the fritz."

"Not surprising considering what happened to all the electronics in the hospital. Electronics don't handle magic too well and that fight between Hedwig and whatever that darkness was was pretty intense. Then again, not sure if the phone would have survived the apparition anyway. My phone should still be on my bedside table." Harry offered.

While Felicity left the room to make the call, Harry summoned a notepad and a pen to jot down his observations about the entity he had met. Magical libraries had to start somewhere after all.

Huffing in annoyance at his lack of progress Harry summoned a stone basin on his living room table.

In the pensieve Harry deposited his memories of the earlier events but only of the initial encounter with the creature. Rewatching these memories had yielded some interesting notes. The creature had called him a Sorcerer, perhaps there were other magicals in the world after all.

Adding those notes to his notebook Harry decided he had had enough for the day and deposited a new memory into the stone basin and had it project the memory over the bowl.

Hermione, Ron and he were sitting in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room the night Harry and Cho had kissed under the mistletoe.

"That's what you look like when you smile?."

Harry turned to see Felicity standing there watching him.

"Yeah. I'd just had my first proper kiss from a girl. Well proper is a strong word, she cried through it leaving me rather confused."

Harry wondered for a few moments, had he not smiled in all this time?

"Mrs. Thompson didn't answer so I left a message. Hospital probably already called her. Who are they?" Felicity asked pointing at the children.

"Hermione and Ron, my two best mates. Well, Ron was a bit of a fair weather friend to be honest but even then, he went through a lot with us. Hermione on the other hand was always true to me." Harry replied wistfully.

"What's with this bowl?"

"It's a Pensieve. It holds memories and lets you look at them again for an external view. It's easier to notice things you would normally miss or find patterns."

They watched the memory unfold culminating with the trio breaking out in laughter.

"Here, let me show you something."

Harry returned the memory to his head and extracted another and dropped it in the pensieve.

"Put your finger in the liquid."

Felicity looked at him with an incredulous look.

"You want me to put my fingers in your magical brain jizz?"

Harry rolled eyes at her in exasperation and gently took her hand in his.

"The first time I used one of these I put my entire face in."

Felicity gave him a disgusted look.

"I'm not really a fan of bukake."

Deciding he probably didn't want to know what that meant he ignored the comment and guided their joined hands into the bowl.

The living room melted away from around them and they found themselves on an old train platform in the middle of the forest. The platform and forest lacked definition, almost as if they were cloaked in silver mist.

"This is crazy! Where the fuck are we? Are we in a memory?"

"The Hogsmeade train station. Just watch. It should become clear in a few moments."

A large red train appeared in the horizon. Its main light cutting through the dark.

As the train approached the surrounding seemed to solidify.

A large shaggy man dressed in a fur trench coat walked up the steps carrying an old style oil lantern.

The train slowed right down and finally stopped. A sea of children poured out of the train and unto the platform.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"

Harry look down at himself. He'd forgotten how small and puny he had been at that age. His hair had taken a bit of a style over the years compared to the messy birds nest he had at age eleven.

"Oh my fucking god! That's you! You look so small and scrawny!"

Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.

"C'mon, follow me - anymore firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

"Come on. We're following Hagrid." Harry explained as he took Felicity's hand.

They followed Hagrid and the children down a steep, dark, narrow path.

"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud "Oooooh!"

The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake.

Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"Wow! That was your school?"

"That was my home for seven years. This is how I like to remember it, not like it was after the battle seven years later."

They stayed on the shore watching the children slowly glide across the still waters towards the school and the scene faded back to their living room.

Harry drew the memory back from the pensive and returned it to his own mind.

"Forget movies! That was fucking amazing! How are you not spending all your fucking time in here?"

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live." Harry replied, quoting Dumbledore.

The next day found Harry and Felicity outside the Thompson's home. They had not heard back from Mrs. Thompson and decided that it would be best to reach out to the woman as she would most likely have questions.

The house was located in one of the more affluent areas of Manhattan. Harry scowled at the Halloween decorations that adorned most of the houses on the street. Halloween had never been a good day for him. Between his parent's murder, the Troll, the opening of the Chamber of Secrets, the day Sirius broke into Hogwarts, the day the stupid Goblet of Fire had chosen him as a fourth champion …Halloween had never been a very happy day for the wizard.

"Her car is here." Felicity pointed out while Harry rang the doorbell.

After a few moments and a few more attempts with the doorbell, Harry pulled out his wand and cast a silent detection spell.

"There's one person in the house on the main floor."

With a tap of his wand, the lock on the front door popped open and Harry let himself into the house.

The house, located in one of the more affluent areas of Manhattan, was well appointed. It was the kind of house the Dursley's would have wanted to live in. High end furniture, what Harry assumed was expensive art on the walls, hardwood flooring … the Thompson's appeared to be very well-to-do.

" ?" Harry cried out as he made his way towards the location his detection spell had indicated. "It's Harry, Harry Potter. We have news about your husband."

There was no answer. Harry still had his wand in hand and nodded to Felicity who pulled out her stolen pistol.

Walking into an elegant living room, Harry found Mrs. Thompson laying on the couch.

"Mrs. Thompson?" Harry asked as he slowly approached the woman who appeared to have fallen asleep on the couch, a small blanket folded under her head used as a pillow.

On the coffee table were some photo albums and a small uniform of some type.

Harry began casting his limited repertoire of medical spells, mostly learned from his repeated visits with Mme. Pomphrey.

"Do you think Kruger got her?" Felicity asked bringing a chair closer to the couch for Harry to use.

The phone began to ring, interrupting Harry's answer.

"Should I answer that?" Felicity asked.

Harry shrugged his shoulders in reply.

"Thompson's residence." Felicity greeted after gingerly lifting the receiver.

"No, Mrs. Thompson isn't available right now. Can I take a message?"

Harry began flipping through the photo album. The album cover was covered in dust and had strange indentations on it as if it had been lying under something heavy for an extended period of time.

"Is Mr. Thompson ok?" Felicity asked after a moment. "I know you can't go into detail but if he's ok I'd rather not have her freaking out for no reason."

The photos inside showed a young girl dressed in a riding uniform riding a horse along with other horse related photos. The photos spanned several years but the album ended abruptly, the last picture showing the girl to be between 14 to 16 years old and there were apparently several pictures recently removed..

"I'll be right back." Harry whispered to Felicity before apparating away with a soft crack returning a minute later with a small notebook.

Dennis Creevey had returned to Hogwarts to resume his magical education after the war and had taken up photography as a way to honour his older brother who had died defending Hogwarts during the last battle. The boy had held no ill will against Harry for his brother's death and had taught him some of the spells and potions involved in his brothers passion.

Flicking his wand at one of the photographs, Harry was able to slightly manipulate the images causing them to animate or zooming into the get more detail or even see things not actually captured by the camera.

"Emily Smyth" Harry read on a scoreboard of a photo of an equestrian competition, the last photo of the album, after enlarging that part of the picture.

Animating the photo slightly Harry observed the then Ms. Smyth's expression changing quickly from a bright smile to a somewhat fearful expression.

"Mr. Thompson woke up for a few minutes earlier. He's asleep again but this time it's normal. That's all the hospital could tell me. How are you doing that?!" Felicity asked, noticing the animated photo.

"Magic." Harry answered absentmindedly. "Looking for clues. She took this album out recently. It's been in storage for a time. There must be a reason."

"Well, Centaurs are basically horses with a human on them right?"

Harry's head snapped up to look at his assistant. "Oh! Damn! I'm pretty bloody dense not to have thought of that! But she's been riding for years apparently, why would she be afraid of a horse and rider now?"

"That's interesting and all but aren't you going to dive in and pull her out?" Felicity asked.

"It's not that simple. I didn't pull out Mr. Thompson, I wouldn't even know where to begin to start to do that. I just made him face his fear and then it broke the … curse I guess or possession or whatever you want to call it."

"Ok so jump in and make her face the centaur. Done deal."

"It's not going to be that easy. Mr. Thompson's fear was easy to face since it was pretty straightforward and he was saved from the fire that burned his parents apartment. I don't really know WHY Mrs. Thompson's nightmare is a centaur. I need more information."

Harry continued flipping through the album when he noticed that some pictures had been removed.

"There are pictures missing. Look around, see if you can find them."

Harry began looking around Mrs. Thompson where she lay while Felicity began searching the room.

"Found something!" Felicity announced carrying a waste basket.

Dumping the contents of the bin revealed several photos that had been crumpled and torn to pieces. A simple repairing charm resulted in more equestrian related photos.

"All the photos have this guy in them." Felicity noticed, pointing out a ruggedly handsome man in his mid 30's that was present in all the previously destroyed photographs.

Harry flipped through the album again and found that no pictures of the man remained.

Harry took the most recent of the discarded photos but began to get frustrated with the limitations of working with normal, non-potion prepared photos.

"Can you zoom in on his shirt in this picture?" Felicity asked handing Harry a solo picture of the man.

The shirt appeared to be a staff shirt for a stable and a nametag identified the man as 'Laurence'.

"I don't think we'll get anything more from this and if she's stuck in a nightmare like her husband …"

"Ok! Get in there and get her out. If you're not out in 10 minutes I'll try and snap you out of it."

Harry nodded back and plunged into the woman's nightmare.

Harry found himself in the dark hedge maze once more. A low rolling fog hugged the ground.

A full moon cast the maze in dark shadows.

Harry picked a random direction and began walking.

A shadowy figure ran past Harry's path further ahead.

"Mrs. Thompson! It's Harry, Harry Potter. I've come to help!" Harry cried out as he ran forward.

There running up ahead was a naked Emily Thompson.

"Mrs. Thompson!" Harry cried out causing the woman to stumble and fall.

As Harry approached her darkened form, she began scrambling backwards in a blind panic as she attempted to cover her naked body.

Harry's silently cast light spell bathed the path in light revealing her scratched, bruised and nude body curled into a protective ball.

"Emily, it's Harry, Harry Potter. I've come to help."

The woman remained silent, shivering on the ground, unresponsive.

"Let's start by giving you back a bit of modesty". Harry offered and with a swish of his wand, he conjured a large cloak.

Feeling the cloak settle over her, the terrified woman finally turned to look at Harry.

"What the bloody hell?" Harry whispered as her face finally came into view. Where her mouth should be was a patch of clear, unmarred skin.

"Mrs. Thompson, what happened to you?" Harry asked as he knelt down by the cowering woman.

"Right, you can't answer. Look, we were able to free your husband. This is your nightmare, you just need to realise that and face your fear." Harry explained but the woman had stopped listening, her terrified eyes staring over Harry's shoulder.

There at the end of the path stood the silhouette of grotesquely deformed centaur a massive turgid member hanging below it's equine body.

Lifting the woman from the ground, Harry urgently guided her down the path.

"Run, I can't fight your fear for you. I can buy you some time but you have to face your fear yourself." Harry explained as he guided the woman forward. A simple transfiguration raising an earthen wall between them and their pursuer.

They turned a corner and entered a clearing that contained apex, horse jumping obstacles.

Harry gently set the woman down and rushed through the clearing to block all three entrances to the with earthen walls.

"Mrs. Thompson, I don't know how long those walls will last. The being that controls these dreams has some power to reshape it to fit it's needs so we need to work quickly."

The woman silently sobbed from her prone position on the ground, covering her shivering form with Harry's conjured cloak.

"Emily, I guess this has to do with your horse riding when you were a girl?" Harry asked.

The woman looked up at him nodding, pain and shame radiating from her eyes.

"I wish you could tell me what happened but obviously you can't unless …"

Harry's thoughts were interrupted when one of his earthen walls shudder under some great impact.

Pulling the woman up off the ground Harry dismissed one of the earthen walls and guided her down the path beyond. They ran quickly down a few twists and turns into another clearing where Harry closed all entrances by forcing the hedges to grow over the gap.

"Let's try something different. Emily, remember in my office when I asked you to focus on the memory of your dream? I need you to focus on the memories that focus on … this."

The woman's expression morphed to incredulous incomprehension.

"I know, this seems insane but you are mouthless in a maze being chased by a demonic centaur … nothing here makes any sense so I'm hoping you can suspend your disbelief and trust me?"

After a moment of hesitation the woman nodded in agreement.

"Ok now focus on your memories, when you are ready, open your eyes and look into my eyes."

The trembling woman closed her eyes taking deep steadying breaths. After a few moments, she opened her eyes staring intently into Harry's.

"Legilimens!"

Harry found himself floating inside the woman's endless black starfield. Unlike his previous foray into his clients mind where she had been relatively calm and collected, memory sphere whizzed by moving at great speed with only a few memories floating fairly still nearby. But even these memories appeared .. skittish, like a frightened hare ready to bolt at the slightest provocation.

Harry approached the nearest sphere and as he slowly reached out to touch it, the sphere shifted away from his hand a short distance.

Harry made a quick snatch at the orb causing all the nearby orbs to fly off in formation like a flock of spooked birds.

"Bugger!" Harry exclaimed into the darkness as he envisioned a broom between his legs and shot off after the spheres.

Chasing through the vast expanse of the woman's mindscape was very different than chasing a snitch in a Quidditch match. There was no air and so no wind, no sense of direction such as up or down, no gravity… even the projection of a broom lacked the feel and interaction of a real broom and was simply the manifestation of Harry's will..

The only real challenge of course was a time constraint. Harry was uncertain how time flowed inside the memories of a dream and there was no telling when they would be found by either the god like being that ruled over this dream realm or the manifestation of his clients fear.

The one saving grace was that the memories Harry wanted to see were apparently the only ones fleeing from him making it obvious what memories were important.

After a short chase, Harry reached one of the memories and he was pulled into it as his fingers skimmed it's surface.

Harry suddenly found himself on horseback riding towards some stables. It was a sunny summer day and his host and the horse she rode, were drenched in sweat. As they neared the stables, Emily Smith gracefully dismounted and guided her horse to it's pen.

Removing the horse's saddle and tack along with her own vest and hat, the young girl began to cool down the horse with a wet rag from a pail cooling the beasts tired muscles.

"You did pretty good back there Emily."

The girl turned around suddenly dropping the cloth.

"Thank you Mr. Laurence." the girl replied hesitantly as she backed away from the man blocking the gate out of the stall.

The man approached, his eyes cleary undressing the young woman in front of him.

The girl looked down at her chest, noticing that the water she had been applying to her horse had drenched her shirt, making it transparent.

"I should finish taking care of Stormy." the girl explained as she made to pass by the instructor but was blocked by the man in question.

"It can wait a sec, you seem to have gotten yourself all wet." he said licking his lips slowly. "Maybe you should take off those clothes before they get ruined."

The memory seemed to glitch severely at this point, as if Mrs. Thompson had repressed it even further and resumed with the man standing over the girl, buttoning up his pants while she sobbed helplessly, nude at the back of the stall.

"If you say a word about this to anyone there might be a small accident in store for Stormy over here. You do know what they do with race horses and competition horses that have had a broken leg?" The man asked as he left the stall.

The girl crawled over to her horse, hugging it, sobbing as the memory slowly ended.

Harry extracted himself from the woman's mind to find her on her knees crying softly, her head lowered. At the entrance of the clearing stood the centaur but it looked less demonic and it's features could be more clearly seen. The human portion of the centaur was in the image of Mrs. Thompson's assailant.

You don't have to be afraid anymore Mrs. Thompson. You're not that defenceless little girl who can't defend herself anymore. You are a grown woman with a loving husband and this predator isn't some mythical monster. He's just a sick, cowardly, depraved man who can't hurt you anymore. You don't have to stay quiet about this anymore Emily, he has no power over you. Say it, say it with me.

Suddenly the skin covering the womans mouth ripped and a primal scream burst forth shaking the entire dreamscape.

"THE BASTARD DOESN'T CONTROL ME ANYMORE!".

And with that scream, the dream shattered and Harry found himself once more sitting on the floor.

"Did it work?"

Harry looked up to Felicity but before he could answer Mrs. Thompson awoke crying.

"Yeah, it worked. I think it'd be best if I wasn't here. Take care of her and come back to the office when she's calmed down."

Before stepping into the hallway Harry stopped and turned back to Felicity.

"Find out what you can about him … I want to find him." Harry added, pointing to the pictures strewn about the table.

With that Harry walked out of sight of the two women and disapparated with a soft crack, re-appearing in his apartment.

Felicity found him in the darkened living room sipping some firewhiskey, Harry handed her a small glass and both sat in silence.

It had taken a few days but Felicity, with information from Mrs. Thompson, had tracked down the woman's aggressor.

And so Harry stood on a cloudy day in a cemetery in a small town just outside New York looking down at a gravestone.

"How did he die?"

Harry turned to his companion, Mrs. Thompson's expression was closed off.

"Felicity found his obituary, he died in a motorcycle accident."

The woman simply nodded.

They remained in silence for a few moments, listening to the local sounds of birds, children playing in a park not too far away…

"I'd worked out what I wanted to tell him you know. I was going to confront him, make him understand what he'd done to me … but I guess this is about as much closure as I'm going to get."

Harry remained silent for a few moments, his hands toying with a box in his pocket.

"I figured that might be the case … I might have something. I don't like doing this because it can be addictive and it can also be unpleasant."

"What, you can perform a seance?" The woman asked, a ghost of a smile gracing her lips.

"Sort of. I can call him, here. Force him to appear to us … if you want."

The woman turned to him in surprise.

"I … I can see why you wouldn't want to use this power needlessly. Being able to call your loved ones from beyond the grave could be … addictive as you said. On the other hand, the old adage of 'Dead men tell no tales' doesn't really apply to you now does it?"

"My old headmaster … er principal I guess you would call him here ... once told me 'It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live'."

They stood in silence for a little longer.

"Could you … could you call him please?"

Harry pulled out the box containing Resurrection Stone and turning it in his hands 3 times whispered the name of his clients aggressor.

Suddenly, standing there by his tombstone was a ghostly apparition.

"Why did you bring me here?" the spirit asked looking slightly confused.

"You are here to face one of your victims." Harry replied.

"She's too old for my tastes" the spirit leered at Mr.s Thompson.

"You've been dead for a long time. You don't remember her?" Harry asked.

"I've had so many sweet little things over my life. It's hard to keep them straight at this point." the spirit answered with a shrug.

Harry shook his head in disgust.

"Do you have anything you want to tell him or ask him Emily?"

"Emily?! Oh I remember you! You were my first. You always remember your first." The man interrupted, his expression changing from bored disinterest to lecherous ecstasy.

"Why?! Why did you do this to me?" Emily asked in a quiet voice.

"Why do you think you stupid bitch. There you were all hot and wet! Just begging for a nice fat cock!"

"You're a monster" she spat back at him.

"You know, you could have stopped me. All you had to do is speak up … tell an adult and all those other little girls would have been safe." the man explained an evil smirk on his face seeing the look of horror on the woman's face.

"All those tears, all that begging … you could have stopped it you know." He laughed evilly. "But no! Instead, you decided to save a fucking horse!"

"All right that's enough." Harry whispered as he dismissed the spirit.

"This … didn;t turn out how I thought it would." Mrs. Thompson whispered after a moment of silence.

"He was a monster." Harry agreed.

"You've done a great service for my husband and I. Here is your payment and this might also be useful to you. We have some invitations to a rather high profile event but Howard won't be in any condition to attend."

She reached into her purse and drew an envelope, handing it over to Harry.

"It would be a good chance for you to network with some influential new yorkers. Get your name known by some of the elite or at the very least get an amazing meal."

After Mrs. Thompson had left, Harry opened the party invitation she had left.

The invitations were for a party being held by a company called Stark Enterprises.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

 **AN: I'd like to start by apologizing for how long it takes for me to write these chapters. The way I'm writing this story is that I write several chapters concurrently, or at least partially. I do this to hopefully so I don't write myself into a corner (see chapter 7 and 8 for what that looks like, not really happy with chapter 8) and to have some continuity between chapters and the overall story arc (yes, there is one). While I focused on this chapter, I was also writing the foundations of another 4 future chapters.**

 **So this story is not abandoned, it's just taking me a while to write. :)**

* * *

"This suit is worth more than all my other clothing put together." Harry complained as they stepped out of the limo Felicity had insisted they rent for the occasion and into the cold November night air.

Harry was dressed in a personally tailored three piece suit that Felicity had insisted they have made. Harry had of course insisted she also get an equally extravagant dress.

The relatively modest dress, a similar purple tint as her freshly cut, shaved, dyed and styled hair, hugged Felicity's contours in attractive ways while still managing to hide some of the damage several months on the street and months in captivity had caused.

"Stop complaining. You didn't have to re-learn how to walk. I know they make my legs look amazing but high heels are so annoying. Give me a good pair of doc martin boots or shoes any day."

They made their way up to the entrance to the expensive hotel in the center of Manhattan and were escorted up to the reception hall.

They were not the first to arrive. The room was a mix of older affluent New Yorkers and younger celebrities with a few reporters sprinkled in for good measure. Harry had no idea who anyone was but Felicity seemed very excited.

"Hello?"

Harry and Felicity turned to see a lovely red headed woman approach them, a clipboard in her hand and a smile on her lips.

"I don't think we've met yet. My name is Natalie Rushman." she reached a hand out to Harry.

"Harry, Harry Potter and this is my friend and assistant Felicity." Harry replied as he shook the woman's hand.

"I don't remember your name from the guest list."

"Oh! One of our clients was unable to come due to illness and they offered us the invitations. I hope that was ok." Harry asked as Felicity pulled the invitations from her purse.

"Excellent! I'll take those. Please have some drinks and mingle." taking the invitations she made her way to her shadow where they had a whispered discussion and walked briskly out of the room while the guard returned to ineptly attempting to appear as if he was not keeping an eye on them.

"Well, grab a drink or two cause I think we're about to get kicked out." Felicity whispered in a disappointed tone taking two glasses of champagne from a server.

"Not sure that's a bad thing. I never really enjoyed social events like these." Harry said as they made their way to a balcony.

"So who's our shadow?" Felicity asked.

Harry adjusted his glasses, activating his recently added naming function. "Harold Joseph Hogan. Does that ring a bell?"

A quick search on her cellphone gave them an answer. "Tony Stark's bodyguard I think? But I haven't seen Tony Stark anywhere."

As if summoned, a burst of light in the sky was fast approaching, accompanied by blaring rock music.

Harry and Felicity made their way back inside to the gathering crowd as a very Gryffindor set of red and gold armor landed on the balcony with a large thud.

"Hello everyone. I hope I'm not too late!" the man greeted as he casually stepped out of the armor as it seemed to slightly fold into itself to allow him to exit.

The man was dressed in a suit that made Harry's look like it was off the rack, even if it was a little rumpled from being stuffed into a piece of high tech armor.

Harry groaned internally, this man reminded Harry of a more confident Draco Malfoy. Rich, arrogant, egotistical, entitled but on the other hand, from what little Harry had read about him, it appeared he had the intelligence and skills to backup that attitude.

"No, you're not late at all. You're actually early." greeted another red headed woman.

Harry activated his glasses again to discover that the woman in question was Virginia Potts.

Standing behind and to the left of Ms. Potts was the woman who had greeted Harry, Natalie Rushman but the enchantment on Harry's glasses gave Harry a different name: Black Widow.

"Well, that never happens … I could just head back out."

"Don't you dare!" Ms. Potts chastised him with a smile, handing the man a drink.

"Oh! One sec." grabbing a small remote control device of some type from his pocket and pressing a button twice, the armor closed up and beeped, it's lights blinking twice.

"Did … did he just power lock his armor?" Felicity asked in disbelief.

Ms. Potts and Mr. Stark held a whispered conversation for a few moments before Stark turned to address the crowd.

"Hello everyone. Welcome to our little shindig here tonight. As much as I like the sound of my own voice, I think I'll leave the announcement to others. Now, I'd like to let the CEO of Stark Industries tell you all what this is about. Ms. Potts?"

"Thank you all for coming. I'm Virginia Potts with Stark Industries, and I'm thrilled that you could all be here. It's not every day you get to change the face of New York." the woman in question began after sharing a slightly annoyed look at Tony Stark.

"First, I'm happy to announce that all damage resulting from the Stark Expo incident has been repaired, at the sole expense of Stark Industries."

Harry looked to Felicity, silently asking what this incident was about but she appeared as clueless as he was. Looking to the crowd, it appeared they were the only ones in the dark.

"Now, the long, historic and mutually beneficial relationship between Stark and NewYork can once again turn in the direction it's always faced: towards the future. It is with great pleasure that I present to you the plans for Stark Tower."

As these words were spoken, the lights suddenly dimmed and a 3d holographic display of a massive tower appeared floating in mid air in front of Ms. Potts.

"The very first, completely clean-energy-powered skyscraper in Manhattan … and what we hope will be a model for future development in the greatest city in the world."

Harry, of course couldn't make heads or tails of the floating plans but others in attendance murmured in excitement.

Apparently, in attendance were members of the press and Ms. Potts began fielding technical questions concerning the new tower. Not understanding the technical jargon being used, Harry wandered from the group towards the Iron Man armor.

The armor was a marvel that Harry doubted even the greatest of wizard artificers form his world would be able to match. Getting closer to the armor, Harry made to touch it but was interrupted.

"Don't touch my stuff."

Harry turned to the softly spoken command coming only a few steps away. Standing just behind him was Tony Stark looking at him with a deep intense look.

"Sorry. It's just an amazing piece of technology. What is it made of? Obviously not iron." Harry asked, turning back to the armor.

"95.5% Titanium and 4.5% Gold Alloy with a bit of ceramic here and there and some silicone infused-steel. Now my turn. Who are you?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, where are my manners. I'm Harry, Harry Potter." Harry replied, reaching out a hand in greeting.

"I ah … I don't do handshakes." Stark replied with a small grimace.

Harry awkwardly lowered his hand back down and turned back to the armor.

"So not interested in the presentation?" Stark asked as he moved to Harry's side.

"I'll be honest, I don't really understand even one tenth of what they are talking about. From what I understand, your tower is going to be powered by some sort of electricity?"

"... well, you're not wrong." the man replied with a strained smile.

"So if you have no interest in the tower and tech. Why are you here. What can a "wizard" for hire want from Stark Industries?" the man had said the word wizard with special emphasis and accompanied the word with air quotes.

Harry turned to look at the man in surprise.

"Don't look so surprised, you have a website! By the way, it looks like it was made by a blind monkey high on absinthe."

"Don't let Felicity hear you, she'll be crushed. She worked very hard on it." Harry replied lightly.

"The cute girl currently handing out home made business cards? Her real name is Amanda Thorpe. Father died in Iraq, mother died of an overdose. She spent some time in juvenile detention for aggravated assault. She disappeared a little while back but then suddenly popped back up."

"Ok … I'm impressed." Harry replied, his eyes wide in surprise.

"This is the information age and, not to toot my own horn or anything but that's sort of my jam." the man said as he made to stand next to his armor, leaning his shoulder on it slightly.

"You on the other hand … you are a mystery, a ghost even. As far as I can tell, you didn't exist up until a few months ago. You have no passport, no birth certificate, no visa, no business license, no medical history, no school records. There are no pictures of you on social media or in the news. You popped out of literally nowhere. I'd think you were some type of spy or secret agent except they at least create a paper thin backstory. You have literally nothing until a few months ago when you dropped several million dollars into a prestigious bank. How you managed to open that account is also a mystery. They would have done the same type of background check I just did, it would have just taken them longer, but instead they rubber stamp your account. So the question is : Who's pulling your strings?"

"There are no strings on me." Harry replied darkly.

Harry had finally broken from the manipulation of others in his last year at Hogwarts. No Dark Lord, no spies, no assassination attempts, no corrupt minister of magic… the DADA teacher hadn't even tried to kill him … for once ... though the woman had left her post in disgrace two weeks before final exams after it was discovered that she had been having relations with a fifth year Ravenclaw student.

While Harry was certain that Dumbledore had loved him, Harry had come to see that the aged wizard had manipulated him from that fateful night where his parents had died up to and well past his own death.

His placement with the Dursley's and his insistence that Harry return there every summer.

Sending Hagrid to retrieve him instead of a teacher as was more standard. Hermione had received a visit from Professor McGonagall after all.

The childish defenses protecting the Philosopher's stone that were by passed by a trio of plucky first years.

The return of his father's cloak with a note practically telling him to use it to break the rules.

The lack of effort to remove his name from the triwizard tournament or the lack of support in the face of school bullying as a result.

The trickling of information concerning the Horcruxes.

Insisting that Snape provide occlumency lessons.

Harry even viewed his meeting of the Weasley's at Kings Cross before first year as suspect but had never mentioned his suspicions out of respect for the genuine love the Weasleys had shown him.

Stark appeared taken aback by Harry's sudden intensity.

The tension was broken by the thunderous applause of the gathered crowd behind the two men.

Ms. Potts signaled for Mr. Stark to approach the podium.

"Remember Pinocchio, don't touch my stuff." he whispered as he moved past Harry.

"Ok. That seemed intense." Felicity commented as she approached Harry.

"Yeah. He's kind of scary. I thought he was just a show off but … he seems ridiculously intelligent." Harry commented as he turned back to stare into the armors glowing eyes.

"I meant you." she whispered back.

"He brought up some interesting points. Things I should have noticed or considered but was too frazzled to. How did I get that bank account with literally no paperwork, no history?"

Felicity simply shrugged.

Harry surveyed the room once more, sipping on a glass of champagne when he noticed Natalie Rushman speaking to Mrs. Potts across the room.

"Another thing. I think Mr. Stark has a spy in his company. That redhead who greeted us? Her real name is "Black Widow"." Harry offered softly.

"You mean her name translates to that or…"

"No, I mean that as far as she is concerned, at the very core of her being, she identifies herself as Black Widow."

"Maybe you made a mistake?"

"No, Emily's name showed up as her married name, even your name shows up as Amanda instead of Felicity. That woman doesn't identify with her real name but some kind of codename. I've never seen anything like this before." Harry explained, thinking how even wormtail or 'scabbers' had shown up as Peter Pettigrew on the Marauder's Map.

"Should we tell Mr. Stark?"

Harry considered this for a moment.

"We'll send him an anonymous tip. I don't think he thinks too highly of me and would probably disregard any information I offered out of hand. But for tonight stay out of her way just in case. Actually, here."

Harry surreptitiously waved his wand at Felicity.

"What did that do?"

"Monitoring spell. Normally used on babies or hospital patients. Will let me know if something happens to you and I'll be able to track your general location, at least distance and direction anyway." Harry explained.

"Why wouldn't you have that on me all the time? Seems like a reasonable security thing to me."

"I'd rather not be privy to every time you need to er … use the facilities or anytime you … climax for example." Harry explained, his face gaining quite a bit of red as he rubbed the back of his head. "It's actually quite invasive and at my end can be distracting. For example, I can tell that you need to go pee."

Felicity snuck in a kiss on his cheek and walked off towards the bathrooms grabbing another drink on her way.

"Well, I confirmed your story with the Thompson's so feel free to stay and enjoy the festivities." Harry turned around to find the 'Black Widow' standing behind him with two drinks in hand. "Drink?"

"No thank you, still working on this and sorry for all the bother." Harry replied, trying not to eye the proffered glass suspiciously.

"No worries, it's just with Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts at a public venue you can never be too safe. Mr. Stark has made a few high powered enemies over the years and more recently as Iron Man." the woman replied, putting down the glass she had offered Harry and taking a sip of her own glass.

"So what is it that you do?" The woman asked eyeing Harry with interest.

"I'm a private detective of sorts." Harry explained, trying not to offer too much information to a potential enemy. "What about yourself?"

"I was Mr. Starks assistant for a very, very brief moment and until Monday I am Ms. Potts assistant."

Harry turned to the woman in surprise.

"Why until Monday?"

"I am … returning to a past job. Working for Stark Enterprises was … interesting ... but Mr. Stark is … difficult to work with."

Harry loosened his tie from around his neck feeling suddenly a little warm. "Yeah, he's a little … little intense."

"Are you ok?" the woman asked looking concerned. "Your breathing is a little heavy and you look a little flushed."

"Yeah, it's just … is it me or is it a little warm in here." Harry feeling flushed.

"I'm fine but maybe we should head out to the balcony." she offered guiding Harry with a hand on his back.

Harry nodded in agreement, trying to hide his rapidly developing erection and they made their way to the balcony.

'What the HELL!' Harry thought to himself. 'I mean she's attractive but …'

His musings were interrupted by another flash of pleasure. 'No! Oh no! She didn't!'

"So you're going back to your previous employeur?" Harry asked, hoping to get her talking so he wouldn't have to.

"Yes well my old employer called me …" the woman's voice simply stopped registering as Harry fought to remain in control over ever increasing waves of pleasure until they mounted to a crescendo and a release. Thankfully Harry did not achieve a release himself but collapsed limply against the railing.

"Oh my god! Are you alright?"

"Yeah … yes. Whatever it was it passed. Maybe I had something bad for lunch … but I'm feeling much better now." Harry replied getting his breathing back under control. "Let me just grab a seat for a moment."

Harry sat down and looked at the woman, she seemed to have actual concern for him in that moment.

"So, what is it that you do at this other job?"

She stared at him for a few more moments before taking a chair as well.

"Literally the same thing I've been doing while I've been working here at Stark Industries." she replied with the slightest of smirks as if privy to a personal joke. "What about you? Must have done some interesting things as a private detective."

"A few things. I can't go into specifics … client confidentiality and all that but honestly a lot of it is kind of boring … cheating spouse sort of thing you know."

"What's the most interesting case you've had?"

"This maniac was stalking my clients. Had to figure out who he was and what he wanted and in the end convince him to leave my clients alone. That one was a bit challenging." Harry simplified the Thompson's experience.

From the corner of his eye, Harry could see Felicity returning from the bathrooms giving him furtive pleased glances.

Harry simply shook his head at the girl with a somewhat annoyed expression.

"Am I boring you?" Black widow asked looking where Harry was staring.

"No! Sorry, it's just, I like to keep an eye on Felicity … she's a little … er … impetuous?"

"So what's the relationship there? If you don't mind me asking."

"Complicated would be a good description. I got her out of a bad spot, gave her a job and a place to stay. She on the other hand feels like she owes me … it's a bit awkward."

"Why would you do that? I mean offer her a job and a place to stay. By the way you say it, it sounds like she moved in with you."

"It's what my friend Hermione called my 'saving people thing'." Harry replied distractedly as he stared at Felicity laughing with some minor local celebrities.

"So … nothing romantic then?" the woman asked, giving Harry a flirty look.

Harry wasn't certain when it had happened but the woman had, at some point, unbuttoned the top three buttons of her white blouse showing an impressive amount of cleavage as she leaned forward slightly.

"No … well she keeps trying but I think it's out of a sense of obligation and that just doesn't feel right. Also, I lost my long term girlfriend recently and I'm not really ready to move on." Harry explained, hoping to curtail the women increasing and less than subtle attempts at flirting.

"Did you guys break up or …" the woman asked, leaning back in her chair.

Harry turned his gaze back to the party to mask the lingering pain of his separation from Ginny. "She's gone." Harry replied quietly.

When Harry next looked back at the woman, he found that she had re-buttoned her shirt as if by magic and was looking at him not with pity but something else.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Harry simply shrugged and took another sip of his drink.

"Well, looks like my break is over." the woman commented after a few moments of silence. "Looks like they are ready for us in the dining room."

Harry nodded to her, watching her carefully as she made her way towards the double doors leading to the dining area.

The announcement for dinner was made and Harry made his way to a table, joined shortly thereafter by a pleased looking Felicity.

"What the bloody hell were you thinking?" Harry whispered angrily at the girl.

"What? When?" she asked confusedly.

"When you went to the bathroom! You …" Harry faltered in his explanation.

"You are so cute and so British." Felicity whispered gleefully "It's called 'Rubbing one out' or 'Flicking the bean', 'Diddle the Skittle', 'Doing the Taco handshake', 'Stroking the beaver'. I think I once heard that you Brits call it 'Jilling off'?"

"I know what it's called, I'm not that bloody clueless. What were you thinking! I was talking to that Black Widow woman when I suddenly started feeling your … arousal!"

"Wait!" the girl interrupted, her expression going from gleeful to incredulous in a flash. "Are you telling me you FELT everything I did?"

"Yes!" Harry whispered back harshly. "I told you I'd know what your condition was and that it could be distracting and invasive!"

"There's a huge fucking difference between knowing I'm playing with myself and feeling me cum to a messy orgasm. I thought you'd know what I was doing, not that you'd feel it! I thought I was just going to make you a little uncomfortable." she finished with a giggle.

"It's not funny." Harry whispered fiercely.

"Come on, it's fucking hillarious and honestly it was just a mistake on my part. If I knew that that's how that worked, I would NOT have done that here."

The conversation stopped momentarily as a waiter arrived and asked for their meal choice.

"So … you felt that?" Felicity asked as she took a sip of her fresh glass of wine.

"Not at full strength … it's kind of like a phantom feeling, just an echo."

"That could be fun in the bedroom. Both partners do that to each other beforehand."

"No!" Harry quickly replied. "Both people would go insane. You'd end up in a feedback loop. It's a warning that was in the medical book I read about the spell that was in big bold letters right at the top of the spell description. Normally the warnings are at the end for most spells but not this one."

"Well, worse ways to go than by having a, literally, mind blowing orgasm."

Being honest with himself, Harry had to admit that he should have expected Felicity to do something along those lines when he cast the spell. And in less potentially dangerous situations, it would have been a crude but effective prank.

"I hope you washed your hands after that." Harry calmly whispered just as Felicity took a large sip from her glass causing the girl to sputter and choke in surprise.

"Did you just make a joke?"


	10. Chapter 10

Harry was sitting at Felicities desk alone in the office. The workload had diminished at the office and Harry had suggested Felicity take the time to improve herself so the girl had taken a gym membership and registered for some adult education classes.

Harry was working on the animagus transformation, going over the book he had received and the notes in Sirius's journal, hoping he could finish the transformation in the next few months when the bell over the office door sounded, heralding a visitor.

A bald, bespeckled man, dressed in a simple business suit, carrying a suitcase, made his way to Harry's desk with confident steps.

Harry vaguely recognized the man and activated the enchantment in his glasses.

'Jasper Sitwell.' That name seemed familiar somehow and then it hit him. This had been the man who had led the soldiers in Central Park.

Harry looked up to the silenced sneak-a-scope mounted above the door to see it spinning wildly.

Harry's expression must have betrayed his thoughts because the man hesitated for a moment before approaching the desk.

"How can I help you … mister Sitwell?"

The man's eyes widened almost imperceptibly as he hesitated again. Harry took advantage of the direct eye contact to try and see what his limited legilimency skills could tell him.

Fuzzy, disjointed images filtered through Harry's consciousness. A severe looking, bald black man with an eye patch wearing a dark leather jacket was sitting behind a desk in a very modern office. On the wall behind him was a large stylised bird with the word SHIELD.

Harry couldn't hear what was being said.

Harry stood up and made to greet the man, not wanting to be caught sitting if the man proved to be a danger.

Sitwell placed his suitcase on Harry's desk, opened it and handed over a picture of a hammer.

"What can you tell us about this?"

The man sat down in the chair and leaned backwards with forced casualness.

Harry walked back to Felicity's chair observing the image.

"It's a hammer, not a workman's hammer but a weapon. It's also a fancy weapon for someone important. There's some knotwork, not celtic but norse?"

"How can you tell?" Sitwell asked

"Celtic knotworks are mostly abstract plants or patterns but Norse knotwork is abstractions of creatures or people." Harry explained distractedly, having spent years in a scottish castle with Hermione Granger … Harry had been exposed to plenty of knotwork and explanation on it's meaning.

Harry put the picture down and looked at the man sitting across from him.

"What else can you tell us about this hammer." The man asked.

Harry considered the situation for a few moments. Obviously he'd come to the attention of some type of organisation … not exactly what Harry had been aiming for when he openly declared himself a wizard … unless they were a more modern version of his worlds ICW after all wizards were pretty horrible at acronyms with OWL for Ordinary Wizarding Levels, NEWT for Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests and even the ever pragmatic Hermione granger had managed to come up with the ever infamous SPEW. SHIELD wouldn't have been out of place at the Ministry.

They were aware of him and hadn't come in weapons blazing so they either were trying not to antagonise him or ...

'It's a test.' Harry realised.

Taking his wand from his wrist holster, Harry began animating the photo, moving the perspective as much as he could considering the limitations of untreated photographs, revealing that the hammer was resting precariously above a thin pillar of earth.

Harry noted that the man still appeared relaxed but his eyes were tracking his wand.

A few more flicks and Harry could see, in the background, scientific equipment and military personnel.

'So, not wizards.' Harry thought to himself.

"You couldn't move the hammer, it looks like you can't even affect the ground it touches."

The man offered no confirmation either way.

"Aparecium."

Lettering appeared on the side of the hammer written in Elder Futhark along with complex enchanting rune clusters that included runes Harry had yet to see in Hermiones books. Harry picked up one of Hermione's rune books on the desk and began scribbling away.

"Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." Harry read back.

"Are you trying to say you have … what's it's name again … sounds like a cat meowing … the hammer of Thor, the god of thunder?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"Not anymore, he left with it." The man answered in an even tone.

"So this was a test. So what does SHIELD want with me agent Sitwel."

Again, a slight tensing of the muscles, barely perceivable by most was the only reaction the man allowed.

"The director would like to meet with you."

"I'm guessing this isn't a request?" Harry asked.

"No, it is. There just really is no reason for you not to accept the invitation."

"Right. Let me just call my assistant so she doesn't wonder where I've gotten to."

The man nodded and Harry picked up his new cellphone. His third one to date.

"Wassup?"

"Hey Felicity. I'm heading out with a potential new client so I might not be home when you get back and I'll be leaving my cellphone at the office."

"Do you want me to head over now?"

"No. No, I think I'll go to this on my own. I'll close the office and you can have yourself a nice QUIET night at home. Just don't spend all night staring at yourself in the MIRROR."

"The fuck are you talking about?"

Harry really wanted to sigh out loud. After burning through so many cell phones, he had taken Sirius's journal and found his notes on the creation of the two way mirror and had enchanted the plain reflective back of two mechanical wrist watches.

"Anyway, like I said I'm leaving my phone here in your desk next to your mirror. If you could check it when you get in that would be great."

"Ooooh! Right! Got it! Be safe alright?"

"Yup. Talk to you soon."

Harry couldn't believe how pathetic his secret message had been. Sure it was a far cry from 'He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden.' that he had used in Umbitches office but Harry decided that he'd work out some better code words in the future for Felicity.

"Lead the way." Harry indicated.

He was guided to the back seat of a black SUV. Agent Sitwell sat in the front passenger side while another man drove.

They drove for a few minutes when Harry felt his wrist watch vibrate, flipping the watch over to the mirrored side Harry accepted Felicity's call and signaled for her to remain quiet while pretending to cover a yawn before flipping the watch back, the mirror still active on his wrist.

"So where are we heading?"

"We've secured a temporary meeting location not too far." Sitwell replied, not looking away from his phone where he was tapping away.

"Anything you can tell me before we get there?"

"Not really. The director has some questions for you."

Harry shrugged and tried to enjoy the ride, watching the early snow whip by the window. Eventually, they pulled up to a warehouse in the industrial part of the city.

"Go on in, the director is waiting inside."

Harry nodded at the man and walked into the darkened warehouse. In the center of the vast empty space was a table in an island of light with a man and a woman sitting on uncomfortable chairs.

"Mr. Potter" the bald man greeted from his seat.

"Mr. Fury. Ms. Hill." Harry greated back.

"Have a seat."

The entire setup was made to put him on bad footing. His chair was uncomfortable and lower, they were both on one side of the table, the light didn't come directly from above bit a little from behind them. The entire warehouse was blanketed in darkness to make him feel isolated.

Harry looked at the chair and decided to take a page from Dumbledore's book.

"This chair seems pretty uncomfortable, do you mind if I fix it?"

Fury gave him a slight nod.

'Ok, so he's the boss, the director.' Harry thought to himself before slowly taking his wand from his sleeve.

Harry waved the wand casting a silent detection spell before transfiguring the metal folding chair into a more comfortable upholstered arm chair seat.

The detection spell revealed a dozen individuals hidden in different parts of the room, including one person in the shadowed rafters.

"So, what can I do for you director Fury?" Harry asked as he sat down on his comfortable chair.

"Why are you here?" Fury asked.

"You asked me to come?" Harry asked confused.

"I mean, why are you here on Earth. Why did Asgard send you here?"

"Asgard?!" Harry asked in complete confusion. "I'm not from Asgard. The realm of Norse gods?"

"Then where are you from?"

"England, Surrey."

Fury's expression hardened slightly. "You arrived here in Central Park in a Einstein-Rosen bridge."

"Ah what!?" Harry's confusion grew even more.

"Our specialist says your people call it the Bifrost or the Rainbow Bridge."

The man pulled a photograph from an envelope and slid it across the table.

It was a picture of a circular patch of burnt grass. And perfectly burnt into the grass was the symbol of the Deathly Hallows, circled by elegant knotwork as if the symbol of the Hallows had been stamped on top of the knotwork.

Another picture of burnt grass was tossed onto the table this was contained a circle filled with complex knotwork and in the center, a tree.

"The first picture is from Central Park. The second one from a town in New Mexico called Puente Antiguo or 'Old Bridge'". Hill explained.

"So let's try that again. Why did Asgard send you here?" Fury growled out.

"I'm not from Asgard. The symbol on the photo from Central Park isn't Norse. It's the symbol of the Deathly Hallows. A wand, a cloak and a magic stone. It's a family symbol from one of my ancestral families, the Perevels. As far as I know, they were British."

"Let's say I believe you, if you're not from Asgard, where ARE you from?" Fury asked, leaning forward, peering at Harry intently.

"It's complicated. I'm from Earth, England like I said, but not THIS earth."

"Are you talking about parallel universes?" Hill questioned.

"That's all we fucking need." Fury whispered angrily.

"As far as I can tell, yes. Someone tried to kill me and it went rather poorly wrong and I ended up here. Took me a few days to figure out what had happened."

"A few days and a trip to England." Fury added.

Harry nodded. "So why did you want to meet?"

"We need some answers. Where did you come from? Are others coming? What are your intentions? What are your capabilities." Fury rattled off.

"We've been keeping an eye on you since you arrived, trying to get some more information on you. We don't have much and nothing we have we could corroborate with a second source. On top of that, you've recently come into contact with one of our assets so our hand was forced." Hill interjected.

The two were playing off each other, trying to keep him off balance but they had nothing on the Weasley twins.

"The Black Widow." Harry offered.

Hill and Fury shared a look.

"Actually, no. The Black Widow is an agent set to protect the asset." Fury offered.

"Stark?!" Harry asked in surprise. "Doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to follow orders."

"No, he's a consultant." Fury explained.

Harry nodded in understanding. "So, before we go forward. What is SHIELD?".

"The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division is an extra-governmental military counter-terrorism and intelligence agency, tasked with maintaining both national and global security. Founded in the wake of the Allied victory over the Axis powers and HYDRA in World War II. That's all I'm at liberty to tell you at this point."

"I hope you understand that I won't be sharing all my secrets with you just yet either."

"What CAN you tell us?" Fury demanded.

"Let's start from the beginning. My name is Harry James Potter. I was born July 31, 1980 somewhere in England to James Potter and Lily Potter born Evans. My parents were murdered on October 31, 1981. I then spent 9 years living with my maternal aunt, her husband and son in Little Whinging. On my 11th birthday I received a particular letter inviting me to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"So in your world there are wizards everywhere?"

"Yes but the wizards live in secret, separated from regular folk and the wizarding population isn't very large, percentage wise. England has the Ministry of Magic, the US has the The Magical Congress of the United States of America. There is also a sort of United Nations called the International Confederation of Wizardry and there's a law observed by all those governments called the Statute of Secrecy meant to keep knowledge of the magical world, secret."

Harry cleared his throat.

"Do you mind if I get some water?"

"I'll have someone get some bottles."

"No need." Harry drew his wand and conjured a glass and filled it with water. "Would you like some?"

Neither Hill nor Fury showed any sign of worry or amazement at his casual breaking of the laws of physics.

"I'll take a glass" agent Hill requested.

'Either they've seen things like this before or I don't want to ever play poker against them.' Harry thought to himself as he conjured another glass for agent Hill.

Harry took a sip before continuing.

"I spent 6 years in school but a civil war broke out during my 5th year and I spent what should have been my 7th and last year of school on the run. The war ended abruptly with the death of the leader of the insurrectionists. I went back to school for my last year and was just on my way home from school when I was attacked and ended up here."

"The math doesn't add up." agent Hill commented as she looked at her notes.

"What do you mean?"

"It's 2011 right now. You were born in 1980, July 1991 you received your letter for your school, then you spent 8 years there before coming here. That would be 1998-99 give or take a year. There's an 11 or 12 year gap."

"Yeah, beats me. Maybe the magic pushed me forward in time as well? Maybe I was traveling for over 10 years before I got here? Maybe the time between our 2 dimensions is off by a decade? I don't know."

"That's a minor detail. There are a lot bigger details I feel you've skipped over." Fury interrupted.

"Yes, for starters, we've just met. Trust isn't given, it's earned. And on top of that, we'd be here for days if I went into detail."

"We could arrest you for being a literal illegal alien." Fury offered, leaning back nonchalantly. It was said casually.

"No, you could TRY to arrest me." Harry countered staring the man in his one good eye, unleashing his passive legilimency.

Through the blur of color and motion, Harry could see a thick folder on a desk with the words 'Avenger Initiative' stamped in red letters but the image was blurred and fleeting.

Fury nodded in understanding, breaking Harry's brief mental contact. "Fair enough. So what are your plans here?"

"Honestly, I've just been winging it. When I got here, I went back to England to confirm what I had already guessed. There was no one there. None of my friends, family … even my school wasn't really there. My magical education hadn't prepared me to live in the normal world. The magical world is behind the time by centuries. The most advanced thing they have is a steam train, the printing press and the magical equivalent to the radio while the non-magical world seemed about equivalent to what it was about 10 years ago here. Also magic interferes with electronics, I've burnt through several smartphones already. My time at Hogwarts hadn't been normal either, I'd spent a lot of my time there solving mysteries so I figured I'd do what I knew best. But I also was hoping that by declaring myself openly as magical that if there were any magicals hidden somewhere that maybe they'd approach me."

"And instead you found yourself on the radar of one of the most powerful secret agencies in the world." Fury commented.

Harry simply nodded, taking another sip of his water.

"Why not go home?" Hill asked

"Not sure how I got here to start with! Parallel universes and alternate realities was all theoretical in my world. The only thing relating to other dimensions we had, as far as I know, was a magical archway in the bowels of the ministry of magic called the Veil of Death and the ministry had been studying it for hundreds of years with no result. I'm skilled and powerful … for a recent graduate of the best magical school in the world but this is something that would stump the best witches and wizards of my world."

"So you are stuck. That's why you moved to New York, to be close to your arrival point just in case?"

Harry simply nodded.

"So … what's next? Are one of the twelve guys hidden away in the room going to shoot me so you can take me to a secret lab somewhere?" Harry asked.

Furry didn't even blink at that declaration.

"No. Like I said, we've been keeping an eye on you for a while now and we've determined that you probably aren't a threat. Someone with your powers, what little we've been able to see anyways … you could have started a life of crime easily. Instead you started a detective agency, finding missing persons, cheating spouses. You gave a homeless girl a job and a place to stay." Fury explained.

"So … what? Are you trying to recruit me?" Harry asked perplexed.

"Fuck no!" the man replied with a laugh but Harry wasn't sold on it's truthfulness.

"Like you said, trust is earned. We know next to nothing about you! But we could use someone with your knowledge and skills every now and again. Your situation isn't the strangest thing I've had to deal with this year." Fury exclaimed.

"Like having the literal God of Thunder show up in a small New Mexico town." Harry offered.

"Exactly. So SHIELD sometimes makes use of consultants. Maybe we bring you on a few cases to help us. Maybe with time, we both earn that trust and go forward."

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?" Harry quoted.

"Are you our enemy?" Fury asked, eye narrowed.

"No. I don't think so. Bad choice of words." Harry offered as an apology, rubbing the back of his head with embarrassment.

Fury simply stared at the young wizard before nodding slowly.

"Your handler is mostly going to be agent Sitwell. He'll come over in a few days with paperwork like birth certificates, school records, passports and all that. We're going to start by creating a paper trail for you." Fury explained.

"You're the ones that got my bank account approved aren't you." Harry asked.

Fury nodded. "We needed you to not get desperate enough to turn to crime and we needed you grounded somewhere so we could keep an eye on you. Hard to do surveillance on someone that can teleport."

Something clicked in Harry's mind and his annoyance, mostly at himself, grew.

"Kate! She's one of your agents." Harry blurted out.

Fury simply nodded while Hill looked as if she was debating with herself.

"Her real name isn't Kate but you seem to be able to know people's real name."

"It wasn't important for me to know people's real names then." Harry answered the non-question. "Honestly, at the time, I was a bit in shock still I think."

"I think that's about it for now." Fury stated as an alarm beeped on his smartphone. "Sitwell will be over to do paperwork. We'll also want you over for a medical, we need to know if you bought anything new or weird from your reality medically speaking."

"Great. It was nice meeting you both." Harry replied extending a hand to them, surprised that both Fury and Hill accepted the handshake.

"We'll have someone take you back to your office," agent Hill offered.

Harry noted that Hill hadn't taken a sip from her glass of water.

"No that's fine. I'll get myself home." Harry surreptitiously dropped his watch on his chair before spinning in place and disappeared with a soft crack, purposely leaving the chair and glasses of water behind.

Felicity rushed into the office but Harry hushed her signalling for her watch.

The connection between the watches was still active and they could listen in.

"So, that went well." A voice Harry didn't recognise commented.

"Went better than expected." Hill agreed.

"But we still know next to nothing about his capabilities Barton. He can teleport, create things out of thin air, change the molecular structure of things apparently at will, he can teleport, he knows peoples true names or the name they identify as, he can cause explosions, create force fields and who knows what else. He's a massive security risk." Fury ground out.

"Or an amazing asset." Barton countered.

"His preliminary psych profile is encouraging." Hill temporised.

"You planning on recruiting him for the Avengers Initiative?" Barton asked.

There was silence for a moment while Fury considered his options.

"Maybe. He's a complete unknown, we have no contingency scenarios, he seems to be a nice kid but his eyes are old … he's seen some rough times."

"I have an idea for a good evaluation mission." Another male voice cut in. "We have him do the initial orientation and debrief of the Captain. Seems like their situations are similar enough."

Everyone seemed to consider this quietly for a few moments before someone's cell phone began to beep loudly.

"Right, I have a meeting about sleeping beauty with the Council. Add your suggestion to the agenda for tomorrow's meeting."

"Alright! Packup and bag anything he left behind so we can have the lab guys analyse everything." Hill commanded.

Harry broke the connection quickly before the watch could be found.

"Can we trust them?"

Harry sat down at his desk pondering that question for a few moments before waving his wand about the room casting Mulfatio.

"I don't know. My sneakoscope went haywire when Sitwell came into the office."

"So no, we can't trust them." Felicity concluded.

"I don't know. Sneakoscope can be a bit sensitive. I had a teacher who had to disable his because it would get set off by kids lying about homework or planning a prank. Sitwell is an agent for a spy agency, that could be enough for the sneakoscope to trigger." Harry countered.

"So sneakoscopes are useless." Felicity concluded.

"No, if they don't trigger you know the person is probably there for honest reasons."

Sitwell returned several days later to conduct an interview with Harry to create his SHIELD profile and his official paperwork.

And they had scheduled a medical examination at a later date.

Harry had managed to get his watch back from Sitwell, claiming he had dropped it at the meeting.

It hadn't taken very long before SHIELD had called on him but Harry had been rather surprised by the nature of the request.

Harry woke up a cold winter morning, walked passed the kitchen to the bathroom where Nick Fury sat drinking some coffee, relieved himself, cleaned his hands and was about to brush his teeth when what he had just seen finally hit his conscious mind.

Walking back to the kitchen Harry peeked into the room. Sitting at his table, tapping away on a smartphone, drinking coffee shop bought coffee was Nick Fury.

"Uhm … hello?"

"Potter. I have a job for you."

"I'm just in my skivvies. I'll be back in a second."

Harry walked back into his room and quickly dressed before returning to the kitchen.

Harry started a pot of coffee for the still sleeping Felicity and made himself a cup of tea, cheating by heating the water magically.

"I'm going to need to setup some wards. So what can we do for you director?"

"I need you to do a debrief of sorts for a soldier we've recovered that was missing in action."

"Must be important if you came here instead of sending agent Sitwell." Harry took a sip of his tea. "Why me? This isn't anything I'm familiar with."

Felicity walked into the kitchen, dressed only in panties and a black band t-shirt. She stopped for a second noticing they had a guest, shrugged and went to pour herself a cup of coffee before dropping down into a chair at the table.

Fury looked to Harry with a raised eyebrow.

Harry simply shrugged.

"Let's just say that you have a lot in common." Fury continued, sliding a folder over to Harry.

The file was labeled: Steve Rogers.

Harry sat on an uncomfortable chair in a simple looking hospital room waiting for the man in the bed to wake up. Something the doctors had promised would be happening shortly.

When Harry had agreed to work with SHIELD, he had expected maybe identifying or debunking magical phenomena or maybe investigative work. What Harry had not expected was a request to debrief a soldier who had been MIA for a very long time.

Lying there in front of him in an older styled hospital bed was Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America.

Harry listened to the sounds of New York coming from the window. The sounds, like the room they were in were fake. Made to look and sound like they did in 1945, the year the man had plunged the plane into the icy ocean.

The whole room was essentially an elaborate set inside a secured floor of a building in Manhattan.

Harry noticed the man shift slightly, subtly looking for restraints.

"Good morning Captain Rogers." Harry said softly.

The man's eyes opened, alert and searching.

"Who are you? Where am I?"

"My name is Harry Potter and you're in a temporary medical facility in New York."

The man gingerly sat up in bed, looking around the room, a confused expression on his face.

"You sound British."

"I am, spent most of my life in England and Scotland, I've been in New York for less than a year. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions? The doctors want to see if there is any short or long term problems from your time in the icy water."

The man's features hardened.

"Don't worry, nothing secret. Name, rank, serial, date of birth, current year … very general questions just to see if there are any memory problems." Harry explained.

"Steven Grant Rogers, Captain, 54985870, born July 4, 1918 and the current year is 1945."

Harry tried to restrain his wince as it dawned on him that the man had been frozen in time for 66 years but something must have shown in his face as Rogers expression hardened more.

"So, now that I've answered your questions. Mind answering some of mine?"

"Ask away and I'll see what I can do."

"Where am I really and who do you work for?"

Harry noted as the super soldiers hand moved slightly towards the tray that lay on his bedside table.

"I told you the truth. You are currently in New York and this is a temporary hospital. We're in a secured location. The doctors were worried you might have brain damage and would react violently so this hospital room was created in a secure location. As for who I work for? I'm a consultant for SHIELD, an organisation that evolved out of the SSR."

"Evolved out of the SSR?" Rogers asked bewildered. "How long have I been out?"

Harry squirmed slightly in his seat before letting out a deep sigh.

"It's been something like 66 years. The current date December 5th 2011."

Suddenly, the soldier burst into action rushing forward much faster than Harry thought possible. Harry was barely able to block the punch aimed at his head with his arms but even deflected, the blow felt like he'd been taken a direct hit from a bludger and sent him to the floor.

Rogers sprinted past a dazed Harry demolishing the sturdy door with very little effort.

"Clear his way! Felicity! Where is he going?" Harry asked as he flipped his wrist watch to the mirrored side.

Harry could hear the sounds of fighting in the distance followed by a loud crash.

"He's heading to the roof. We've got all the fire doors sealed."

"Right! Tell Fury to keep his men out of sight. I'll go and meet the captain on the roof."

With that Harry stumbled out of the room, apparated past a fire door and then out a window. A few 'Alarte Ascendare' spells allowed Harry to quickly climb the building in a few leaps.

Rogers recoiled in surprise as he burst through the door to find Harry waiting for him, arms raised placatingly. "What? What?!"

"I took a shortcut." Harry explained. "I'm not here to hurt you captain, you're not a prisoner. Here come with me and come see the city."

Harry slowly backed away from super soldier and around a corner.

Captain Rodgers gasped in surprise as they could see, in the distance, the Statue of Liberty framed by a modern day New York.

The man fell down on his ass looking over the very modern New York skyline.

"I know it's a lot to take in, just take some deep breaths. Won't do any good to have a panic attack." Harry calmly explained moving as little as possible so as to not trigger the man's fight or flight response.

"66 years?"

"Yeah. It took SHIELD a long time to find you. Are we good?" Harry asked, sitting down on some machinery.

"No … not really."

Harry noticed the man tense and move his head in a direction a few heartbeats before SHIELD soldiers appeared around the corner.

"Everythings ok! You guys can go." Harry exclaimed loudly. "SHIELD security forces." Harry explained.

"Security detail?" Rogers asked.

"If you had suffered brain damage and were violent … well you are a dangerous soldier. Having a super soldier rampaging through New York would have been pretty bad."

"What now?"

"Now you ask me questions and I try to answer. Later you'll probably do a debrief on your last mission but it's waited this long, a few more days won't hurt. But first, we should probably get you dressed, pyjama bottoms and a muscle shirt in the middle of winter is probably not the most comfortable." Harry offered.

"It's warmer than I've been in a long time apparently but yeah." Rogers spoke softly.

Just then, Felicity turned the corner carrying a duffle bag and a small cooler.

Rogers stared at the girl in surprise. Her partially shaved head with purple fringe, matching purple lipstick, piercings and trashy punk clothing apparently shocking the mans conservative 1940's sensibilities.

"This is my friend and assistant: Felicity. Felicity, Captain Rogers."

"Hey." the girl greeted shyly and awkwardly.

She handed the man a duffle bag containing jeans, a t-shirt, socks, shoes and a jacket.

The man pulled the jeans over his pyjama bottoms put on the socks and shirt but hesitated at the shoes.

"Yeah, modern running shoes." Harry acknowledged.

"I ah … I brought up some food and a couple of beers." Felicity offered shyly before running off.

Harry shook his head at the girls strange behavior.

"Do you want to stay out here or go inside?" Harry asked.

"I'd like to stay out here for a bit if you don't mind."

Harry nodded and started poking through the lunch Felicity had brought.

"So you have questions. I might have answers." Harry continued, opening one of the beers and handing it to the other man before opening one for himself.

"I guess we won?"

Harry took a sip of the beer grimacing slightly, not being a fan of the drink.

"You'll be able to get more detail about that from a military briefing later but yeah. The leader of HYDRA vanished, Hitler killed himself as allied forces made their way to him. The world has been in relative peace for the last 60 or so years. There was something in Cuba and things between the US and the Russians were pretty tense, they called it the 'Cold War'. And there's been other wars like Korea, Afghanistan and so on but nothing like World War 2."

Rogers took a sip from his beer.

"What about my friends? The Howling Commandos? Howard Stark? … Peggy Carter?"

"They said you might ask so they prepared me. The Commandos are all gone, I'm sorry. Howard Stark and his wife died in a car crash in 1991 I think, Peggy Carter is still alive. Her location is considered a government national secret."

"Howard got married?" Rogers asked in surprise. "Never would have thought."

"Yes. I've met his son. Brilliant but a bit of an arsehole." Harry offered. "Actually I'm being a bit unfair, apparently he turned his life around over the last bit. See that huge tower being built over there? That's going to be a self sufficient, non polluting tower. He's moved the company from weapons development to clean energy and other fields."

"What about you? Why did they choose you for my orientation. You're young, not military, not a doctor."

Harry considered how to answer.

"I can … relate." Harry started hesitantly.

"You can relate to my situation?" Rogers replied with disbelief.

"A lot more than I think Fury, that's the director of SHIELD, even realises. We have a lot in common, including your particular temporal displacement."

"Really?"

"I don't think you're ready for all the details … you need more than the 30 minutes you've had to come to grip with the reality of your new situation but I lost 11 years and everyone I knew."

"How?"

"Trust me, you are not ready for this story but just know that I can understand your situation. I woke up in the future sometime this summer. I found that my friends were gone, my girlfriend, my godson, my almost in laws … everyone. I'll tell you my story once you've had time to come to grips with your situation. No need to overwhelm you."

"Fair enough."

They sat in silence for a bit longer eating sub sandwiches and finishing off the last of their beer.

"This just doesn't feel real. It's like I'm in some horrible nightmare."

Harry could very well relate to the older man's state of mind, having gone through the same realisation in the empty field where the Burrow should have been.

"It'll take a while to sink in. I still wake up sometimes thinking I am still at my boarding school in Scotland. Are you ready to head in? I think director Fury is probably anxious to meet with you."

Harry guided the captain back into the building and into a simple conference room. The room was simple and while the furniture was modern, the only modern technology in the room was the teleconference unit sitting in the center of the table.

Sitting at the table were Fury, Hill and another balding agent Harry had never met, a Phillpe Joseph Coulsen.

"Captain Rogers, Director Fury, Agent Hill and Agent Coulsen."

Rogers hesitated for a moment, looking surprised.

"Is there a problem captain?"

Rogers hesitated for a moment.

"I don't mean to sound bigotted Director Fury but to me, yesterday, people of color were segregated. To find someone like you in charge of a vast military agency is a little bit of a shock."

"A lot has changed in the past 60 years captain. There is still some discrimination but things have progressed a great deal over those past 6 decades. Who knows, we might even have a black president in the near future."

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'" Harry quoted "My friend Hermione was a big supporter of civil rights."

'Or rather elven civil rights' Harry thought to himself.

"I feel like I'll need to go back to school." Rogers ruefully explained as he reached out to shake the man's hand.

To Harry's utter shock, Fury gave the captain an authentic smile.

"Ok Captain, I'll leave you in director Fury's capable hands. I'm not sure I'm cleared for whatever you guys are going to talk about. Here is Felicity's phone number. She's easier to reach on the phone than I am. Let me know if you want to talk and when you feel ready to hear the rest of my story."

Harry waved to everyone and closed the doors as he left. Picking up Felicity, he apparated them back to their apartment.


	11. Chapter 11

AN: Thank you all for the words of encouragement. Again, I have to apologise for how slowly I get these out. I have a full time job, a family and a side job / business and those things do take a lot of my time. :)

Harry woke up feeling hungover, bruised and battered next to the naked sleeping form of his assistant.

The ringing of the to the apartment doorbell, the apparent cause of his awakening.

Harry wasn't quite sure why they were in bed together. Felicity hadn't slept in his bed since those demons had come out of the sleeping victims and really Harry could not remember going to bed either. His back also felt rather tender.

The doorbell rang a second time reminding Harry why he was awake.

Looking at the mechanical clock next to his bed, he noted that it was already past two in the afternoon.

Disentangling himself from Felicity and quickly donning a bathrobe, he made his way to the front door.

The sneakoscope above the door remained still.

On the other side of the door stood captain Steve Rogers.

"Captain Rodgers." Harry greeted.

"Please, call me Steve." The man replied. "Did I catch you at a bad time?" the man asked as he eyed Harry's disheveled state.

"No, no … well I was sleeping but I really should have been up ages ago. Please, come in."

Harry guided the man to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee before excusing himself to quickly get changed and some quick self grooming charms.

"Sorry about that." Harry offered as he poured two coffee cups.

"So … you're a wizard." Steve half asked / stated.

"I guess director Fury had you read my file?"

"Yeah and well, that's what it says on your sign outside." Steve pointed out.

"Right. So what do you want to know?"

"Well, I'm here for two reasons. I wanted to take you up on your offer to give me a bit more information even if your file did fill in a few blanks and well, Furry asked if I could find out what you've been up to since Christmas since you haven't answered your phone. And Fury thinks you might have been in the news."

Harry looked back at the man in confusion.

"Ugm … isn't today Christmas day?" Harry asked.

"No. We're December 27th."

Harry's eyes opened wide in surprise.

"We've been asleep for two days?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Not sure. What do you remember?"

Harry thought back.

"Well we were watching some weird christmas movies …"

Harry and Felicity were sitting drunkenly in the living room on Christmas eve, watching a strange mexican Christmas movie Felicity had found on the internet called "Santa Claus" where Santa worked in outer space and had to battle a demon named Pitch.

Harry snagged another one of Felicity's brownies from the tray on the table. Harry had been worried because Felicity had yet to make even a single meal since she had moved into the apartment and the smell from cooking the brownies had been worrisome and there was a little earthy taste to the brownies, not unpleasant but different.

"Wait! Is that supposed to be Merlin?" Harry asked giggling drunkenly, pointing at the screen with a glass of Gin in Tonic in hand.

"This is so weird!" Felicity agreed.

They watched the entirely nonsensical story unfold for a few more minutes.

"Harry? Do you think Santa was a wizard?"

Harry lazily rolled his head over to look at Felicity.

"I don't think so, he doesn't have a wand."

"No, no, no … I mean in real life either in your world or this one."

Harry took another sip of his minty drink considering, ignoring the movie playing to focus his dwindling cognitive capabilities on the question at hand. Harry was rather surprised by how affected he was by the Gin and Tonic mix having never gotten seriously inebriated before, not even at the end of year party at Hogwarts.

"I mean, he knows everyone's names and so do you, he has a bag on his sleigh that can hold more things than it should like your trunk, he has a flying sleigh and you have a flying motorcycle…"

Harry's eyes widened in surprise, it all made sense! Santa must have been a wizard.

"The hard working elves must have been house elves! Coming out the chimney could have been some kind of floo travel! Knowing if kids had been good or bad could have been legilimency or maybe an enchanted scroll like the school register? Being able to get to every house in the world could have been abusing the hell out of a Time Turner! Bloody hell! It all makes sense now!" Harry burst out spilling some of his drink as he gesticulated wildly.

They sat there stupefied by their drunken revelation, the movie ignored entirely.

Harry reached for another brownie.

"You know what we should do right? We need to get out there and go hand out gifts!" Felicity suggested.

Harry sat up straighter, knocking over his drink.

"YES! YES! We bloody well must and we've no time to lose! Felicity go get materials for me to transfigure and get yourself an outfit I can change into a Christmas elf outfit!"

But just as quickly as his enthusiasm had risen it plummeted!

"But there's no way I can make enough gifts for 7.5 billion people and I don't have a Time Turner and there isn't a floo network."

Harry collapsed back into his favorite comfy chair despondent but Felicity's enthusiasm had diminished only slightly.

"... ah! I spilt my drink." Harry commented quietly, looking at his cup on the floor sadly.

"So … so we start small. We do maybe the local children's hospital and a few orphe… orph … or phe nages. I remember what it was like in foster care at Christmas." Felicity exclaimed as she knelt by Harry's chair, a determined look in her slightly unfocused eyes.

Harry thought back to all those Christmases at the Dursley's, sitting alone in his cupboard while he listened to Dudley complain about the gifts he was unwrapping. He'd have been ecstatic to get any gift, even if it was just a new pair of socks.

"Right!" Harry exclaimed as he suddenly and unsteadily stood up causing felicity to fall back on her ass with a squawk.

"Get changed, we'll need junk to turn into gifts. We've got to save Christmas! … for a small number of children."

The next twenty minutes were a flurry of motion as Harry transfigured outfits, expanded a large bag and filled it with junk of various types to transfigure into gifts.

Felicity in the interim had been printing out maps with highlighted locations of interest: Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital and Sister Margaret's School for Wayward Children.

Soon, a short and skinny Santa with a realistic beard that would have put Dumbledore's to shame and a tall punk elf with actual pointed ears mounted a magical Triumph Bonneville, taking off to their first destination while drunkenly singing Christmas carols out of tune.

"You have a flying motorcycle?" Steve asked incredulously.

"Yeah, an enchanted Triumph Bonneville." Harry confirmed.

"So motorcycles are the evolution of flying broomsticks?" Steve asked with a serious expression.

"No, I have one of those as well."

"So what happened next?"

Harry and Felicity made their way down the quiet halls of Morgan Stanley, hidden under Harry's invisibility cloak, giggling softly. They had parked the Triumph on the roof of the hospital and a Alohomora had made quick work of the locked door.

Finding the kids ward, Harry locked the doors and clumsily threw together a quick aversion ward and a sound suppression ward before transfiguring a simple chair into a large two seater chair flanked by pine trees covered by conjured decorations.

With a nod from Felicity, Harry took a last swig of Gin and Tonic from a handy, seriously expanded and more importantly sealed, thermos and raised his wand over head and connected to it like he had at Olivanders filling the room with light, wind and the faintest touch of Phoenix song.

The children slowly began to wake looking about in surprise.

"Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!" Harry cried out in a poor imitation of Santas he had seen in the movies earlier.

The children were coming out of their rooms with confused expressions, some in wheelchairs, others with crutches.

"Now if any of you can't leave your rooms don't worry! Santa will be over to see you in a few minutes. My elf Felicity's going to walk from room to room to make sure we don't miss anyone."

An older boy, around 13 or 14, with an eye patch over his right eye lead the group of younger children looked at Harry critically.

"Dude! The hospital Santa was here earlier. And you're kind of short and skinny to be Santa."

The boy had qualified the word Santa with air quotes both times.

"Well Richard Morton, that wasn't the real Santa. They mean well, of course but there's only one Santa."

The boy looked at him defiantly.

"You look almost my age under that fake beard. Ok then! Prove it! What did I ask for for Christmas two years ago?"

Harry hesitated in his retelling. Revealing to someone who reported to a massive spy agency that he could essentially read minds by way of viewing someone's memories would probably either result in him being constantly brought in to extract information or locked up as a national security liability.

"Is there a problem?" Steve asked.

Harry looked back to the still immobile sneakoscope mounted by the main door and decided to take a risk.

"I haven't told SHIELD everything I can do. For starters we'd be at it for weeks, then there's the fact that having a few surprises could be important if SHIELD turned on me and finally I wouldn't put it past them panicking and trying to lock me up for national security concerns." Harry explained.

"Like?"

"An example they already know is that I can apparate or I guess they'd call it teleport. I could teleport into the Oval Office and kill the president in under two minutes and there's nothing they could do about it. I have other powers just as worrisome from their perspective."

Steve remained quiet for a few moments.

"I can't promise not to tell SHIELD about this without knowing the gravity of the situation."

Harry nodded and continued with his story.

Some of the younger children looked up the the older boy in apprehension due to his disrespectful tone.

Harry on the other hand began to worry. He and Felicity had thought this a fun game but looking at the wary but hopeful expressions on many of the younger faces, Harry suddenly realised that if he failed he could crush their spirits and with his Legilimency skills being spotty at best …

Harry shook himself and looked deep into the boys one eye and with no effort at all Harry was brought into a memory, the boy had wanted a new mountain bike.

"You can read minds." Steve stated flatly.

"Not exactly, I can see your memories. I can't tell what you are thinking but I could go and search for the memory of when you had your first kiss…"

"Or of me reading a secret mission briefing." Steve interjected.

Harry looked back to the sneakoscope and found it still motionless.

"Yes. Without a wand and incantation I can only get surface memories. Memories associated with what you are thinking at the moment and it's disjointed and blurry. My guess is if I did it to you right now, I'd probably see you reading your last mission briefing or your most delicate briefing since that's what you're thinking about." Harry offered.

Steve appeared very conflicted.

"To be fair, I'm rather rubbish at it and had someone weaponise this skill against me essentially mind raping me so I'm rather not fond of it. I do use it when meeting people who are potential enemies."

"I need to think this over. This is a huge security risk but I promise not to say anything for now."

Harry looked back to the still immobile sneakoscope and smiled before continuing his story.

"Let me show you instead of telling you. Might not look exactly the same but we'll try our best."

With that Harry collected several pieces of scrap from his bag, placed them on the floor and began waving his wand, the pieces merged and melded, shifted and colored until less than a minute later … there stood a brand new shiny mountain bike … miniature.

"Sorry, Santa's not up to making a functioning bike out of thin air, too many finicky parts to do on the spot like this."

The boy stared in disbelief at the bike.

"It looks just like the one I saw at the store." The boy whispered as he took the model and let Felicity guide him to a chair on the side.

"So. Who's next."

A small blond girl with both arms in a cast and severe bruising on her face and shoulders timidly came up.

"Well Hello Samantha Collins, come sit on the couch."

"You know my name?"

"Santa knows the name of anyone he meets." Felicity explained putting down her own thermos of liquid libation.

"So first things first, Santa's not too good at healing magic but let's see what we can do here."

Taking his wand, Harry waved it over the young girls face reducing the bruising significantly.

"Now, let's see about those arms. Are they broken? Did the doctors put pins or rods in your arms?"

"Yes, I broke my arms, I had a skiing accident. They just put them in casts."

Harry nodded and mended both arms with a simple Bracium Amendo and then vanished the casts.

"There! You know, I once broke my arm and a wizard tried to heal it but he was a rather poor wizard and instead of fixing my bone he vanished it! My arm looked like it was made out of rubber!"

The girl giggled and Felicity snorted into her drink.

"Now let's see what you would like for Christmas from Santa."

Harry stared into her eyes and could see the memory of a plush bear that could turn into a pillow.

Taking some cloth scraps from his bag, Harry waved his wand and instead of a plush bear pillow ended up with a plush bear bean bag.

"Humm, seems Santa put a little too much magic into that one." Harry laughed but the girl gave him a hug and gently lowered herself on her new bean bag. With a swish of Harry's wand the bear became animated and ambled out into the girls room to her ruckus laughter.

Harry took another sip from his Gin and Tonic before motionning the next child forward.

Everything went rather smoothly after the first two children and Harry was having a wonderful time. The room was filled with temporarily animated dolls, stuffed animals, toy cars, model airplanes and spaceships.

The hallway was filled with loud cries from the ecstatic children.

All the children that were mobile had been dealt with and Harry and felicity had begun going from room to room to see the bed ridden children.

"And what do we have here?" Harry asked. "Julie Morris!"

In the room, connected to several machines was a sad sickly looking 15 year old girl. The girl had a perfectly bald head and Harry's stomach twisted in sympathy, focusing his inebriated thoughts. This girl was only 2 or 3 years younger than himself.

"Santa Claus isn't real, there's no such thing as magic and fairy tales are just that … tales."

Harry waved his wand at the door muffling the sounds of children playing and then pulled himself a chair.

"No, I'm not really Santa … or maybe I am tonight?"

Harry waved his wand at his face, removing his beard and pulled off his hat.

"My parents died when I was around one year old. I ended up living at my aunt's house. They didn't want me, thought I was a freak … unnatural. I remember sitting and starving in the boot cupboard under the stairs, that was my room until I was 11, listening to my cousin complain as he opened his massive pile of gifts and wondering why Santa didn't bring me any gifts and questioning if he even existed. At age 11, I went to a boarding school, my parents had signed me up and paid the day I was born and that's when I got my very first gift, a hand knitted sweater. At school, I made my first friend, he told his mum I didn't expect any gifts so she made me one."

The girl remained silent, staring intently at Harry.

"That's when I realised that Santa wasn't a person. He was an idea, a symbol. We're all Santa. Mrs. Weasley, a woman I had only briefly met at a train station had taken the time to knit me a sweater … she was my Santa Claus."

Harry rubbed at his eyes surprised to find tears there. He had been in such a great mood all evening.

"What? Am I supposed to feel bad for you? I've got Cancer."

The girls words were meant to be sharp but her tone was defeated.

Harry ignored her words, he knew what it felt like to be angry at the world better than most.

"Oh! And magic does exist!"

Harry stood up, changed his chair into a stuffed bear, animated it to wave at the girl before sending it out of the room to play with the children.

"The animation will only last a few hours."

The girls eyes opened wide and hope creeped into them.

"I heard you fixed a girls arms, could you …"

Harry shook his head sadly.

"I'm sorry, I can do the equivalent to first aid. Cancer is out of my skill."

Harry glanced into the girls eyes, hoping to find some simple trinket he could make for her but his surprisingly fluid passive legilimency only showed the girl outside playing soccer with other children.

"I'm sorry I can't give you what you really want. I could give you hair but I don't know how long it would last before it fell out again and magic and electronics don't mix well." He explained as he gestured at the beeping machines the girl was connected to.

Reaching over to her bedside table, Harry took a dirty butter knife and, after cleaning it, transformed it into a simple, metal pendant of a unicorn.

Harry stepped out of the room to find Felicity standing there with a brownie in one hand and his drink in another.

The hallway was in chaos with children running after animated transfigured toys and laughing at the magic. The temporary wards had placed on the doors allowing the children to play for a while longer, uninterrupted.

"We did good." Felicity declared, taking a long gulp from her drink. "Let's hit Sister Margaret's School for Wayward Children and then call it a night."

Harry smirked at the name and at the pleasant warmth spreading through him from the tasty treat and his new favorite drink. "My aunt and Uncle used to tell people I went to St Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys."

"Fuck your relatives." Felicity whispered drunkenly. "Let's go and help out some more kids."

Harry nodded in agreement, pushing the Dursleys from his thoughts.

"Ok kids!" Harry cried out bit was interrupted.

"Dude! Where's your beard?!"

"Oh bloody hell!" Harry whispered, waving his wand back at his face causing all the children to laugh uproariously.

"Well my elf and I have more gifts to hand out. The animations on the toys will probably last another hour or so so enjoy them while they last and a Merry Christmas to all."

"And to all, a good night!" Felicity added.

Harry grabbed her by the waist and disapparated the both of them with a loud crack.

They jumped onto the Triumph buzzing the windows of the kids ward before flying off in the direction of their next stop Sister Margaret's School for Wayward Children.

Steve stared at Harry incredulously

"Need some proof?" Harry asked.

"Maybe a little? It's just hard to take in."

"That's why I said you should take a while before hearing my story." Harry explained.

With a few silent flicks and swishes, the dirty dishes in the sink began floating and cleaning themselves.

Steve stared for a few moments.

"Right! Magic is real. So after the children's hospital. What happened?"

"You're taking that rather well." Harry commented.

"I was fighting a red skulled Nazi for control over a magic box that desintegrated the man in front of my eyes, I plunged a plane into the arcitic to stop the bombing of New York and then woke up 66 years into the future … I think I'm fairly resilient."

"A magic box?" Harry asked.

"I called it that because I have no idea what it was or how it worked. I can't tell you anymore, I don't know if you're cleared to know."

"Fair enough" Harry agreed. "So next thing I remember we're in this dirty alley …"

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Harry asked as they unsteadily made their way down a dirty alley. The Triumph parked on the street with a notice me not charm on it.

"Yeeeaaaah!" Felicity replied drunkenly as she shoved her printed maps into his hands. "If your mojo didn't zap our phones we could check on the GPS but map says … oh! Look!"

The girl ran off and pointed at a metal plaque embedded into the alley wall next to a door.

"Sister Margaret's School for Wayward Children … told you it was here!"

Without a moment's hesitation, she yanked the door open and walked in with a loud "Merry Christmas!".

"Uhm … Felicity … I'm not sure this is an orphanage." Harry loudly whispered as he looked at the rather dingy bar filled with dangerous and rough looking men and women.

"Yeah! What's the big idea building a bar in an orphn'ge." Felicity slurred drunkenly as she turned a baleful eye at the weasley looking man behind the bar.

"This place hasn't been an orphanage in like 80 years." the man behind the bar explained. "I don't think there's been an orphanage in the US since the sixties."

"Ah! Man, we fucking suck at this Santa thing. We only did one hospital!" Felicity whined as she dropped down heavily onto a bar stool.

Harry patted the girl gently on the shoulder, taking a seat next to her.

"I'll have a Gin and Tonic and she'll have … water." Harry asked as he carefully sat himself down on the stool.

The bartender appeared to be about to refuse when Harry pulled out a large pile of notes from his pocket.

"No! I want beer."

"Water first beer later." Harry countered.

"You're not the boss of me!" Felicity whispered glumly as she fumbled for her glass.

"Actually, I am." Harry reminded her.

"Fuck off." the girl replied with a snort. "I'm going for a piss."

Felicity walked off drunkenly towards the bathrooms leaving Harry to nurse his drink and wondering if she had any more brownies left, feeling a little peckish.

Looking around, Harry noticed a board over the bar but instead of a menu, it appeared to be a betting pool titled the 'Dead Pool'.

"So Mr. Hammer, what's this dead pool about?" Harry asked.

"The name is Weasel. Not sure how you found out that name but it's best you forget it." the bartender replied back with a serious expression.

"Santa knows everyone's name Mr. Weasel." Harry replied with a chuckle with gesturing at his gedup.

"It's just Weasel, my dad was Mr. Weasel." the man replied.

"If you know everyones name then what's mine?" a large man that looked like Hagrid might have had he been in a biker gang asked.

"Edward Thomas Buckford." Harry replied without hesitation.

"Edward? Buck is your nickname?" Weasel asked in surprise.

The man in question nodded back in surprise.

"You think you know someone …" the bartender commented. "I still don't buy that you're Santa. You're about one hundred and fifty pounds too light and about two thousand years too young. 'Edward' here makes a more convincing Santa than you do."

"Aright, I'm going to tell you what you wanted for Christmas the last time you asked me for something." Harry challenged.

Harry barely had to focus at all, his magic sprung forward, catching the mans associated memories. A page from an electronics catalogue showed a circled TRS-80. Harry wasn't one hundred percent certain what that was other than a computer of some type.

"Hunh. You wanted a new computer. A TRS-80?"

The bartender's eyes grew wide in surprise. "What the actual fuck!? Why didn't you get my computer then?"

"I'm new to the Santa thing. This was my first night, trying to ease into it." Harry explained.

"I fucking said no you asshole!"

Harry was up, and rushing down the bar towards Felicities angry voice before he even realised what was happening.

Felicity was pushed up against a wall with a pair of large rough looking men crowding her. One man had a hand up to her waist.

"I think the lady has told you to piss off. You might want to listen." Harry growled out, his magic practically bubbling under his skin.

The second man looked over to Harry with a derisive look.

"Look little boy, unless you want to spend the holidays in intensive care, you'll walk back out the way you came." the second man attempted to shove Harry away but Harry's reflexes, honed by years of people trying their damned best to kill him, kicked in. Harry moved out of the way of the shove and attempted to shove the much larger man back … unbidden, Harry's magic reacted, sending the man careening into the nearest wall.

The room suddenly went quiet, the man crowding Felicity looked at Harry in surprise as Harry stared at his hand in confusion.

Felicity, seeing an opportunity kneed the large man in the groin. Someone by the pool table was heard to say: "That'll do it." and the entire bar descended into chaos.

"No, no, no! I just finished getting this place cleaned up from last time!" the bartender exclaimed in annoyance.

At this point in the story, Felicity stumbled into the kitchen, dressed in her usual panties and shirt and slumped down at the table, eyes closed.

"Kill me." She mumbled as she lay her head in her arms on the table. "I fucking feel like I've been in a three day orgy marathon!"

"Language!" Captain Rogers reprimanded softly.

Felicity's head snapped up suddenly noticing that they had a visitor, her red rimmed eyes grew wide, her greenish complexion took on an almost healthy pinkish hue and then something incredible happened … she squeaked in surprise and ran out of the room.

Harry snorted in amusement into his coffee.

"Oh hell, I'm so sorry but it looks like you have a fangirl."

"I'm sure she was just embarrassed by her state of dress." the Captain offered, his own complexion a little flushed.

"Nope. She sat here dressed just like that with Fury sitting right where you are and didn't bat an eyelash. And trust me, I can spot a fangirl a mile away."

Rodgers appeared a little uncomfortable at that admission so Harry continued with his story.

"Everything gets a little blurry from this point on." Harry explained.

Simultaneous fights broke out across the bar, a man had just broken a beer bottle on another man's back, another man had gotten tossed over the pool table in the back, felicity was kicking her original aggressor forcefully in the ribs.

Harry's bemused observation was cut short when he was tackled from behind and someone began raining blows to his head.

Again, Harry's magic reacted unconsciously, sending his assailant flying into another group of men.

The next few minutes passed in a blur as Harry dodged various assailants while punching or kicking anything that came close to himself or Felicity.

One moment Harry had been fighting and the next he found himself outside with Felicity and a group of men laughing. The sounds of fighting could still be heard coming from the bar.

After another moment he was lying face first in a strange chair with his shirt off. A man, Wade Harry vaguely remembered, giving him a swig of a bottle before the needles began …

Harry stopped his explanation, whipped off his shirt and conjured two mirrors. On his back was a massive tattoo of a stag, a wolf, a grim and a Raven.

"Well … could be worse than getting a drunk tattoo after a bar fight. You could have gotten married." Rodger's offered as he tried very hard not to laugh at Harry's sudden panic.

At the word 'married' Harry remembered how he and Felicity had been sleeping in the same bed and brought up his hand. To his relief, it was bereft of ring.

"It happened a lot during the war."

"What? Drunken weddings?" Harry asked, dropping bonelessly in his chair in relief.

"Well, I'm sure there were a few of those but no, I meant the drunken tattoos after a bar fight. Guys would get antsy between conflicts and get drunk at the local bar. Usually no hard feelings at the end."

Harry nodded.

"From your file, you mentioned a war broke out? I'm guessing you were part of it."

Harry moved to the coffee pot and busied himself with pouring another cup.

"It wasn't a war like the one you were in." Harry began. "It wasn't massive armies on battlefield. It was actually not even technically a war. My friend Hermione explained that it was an insurrection, a group of bigots who believed that only those born of existing magical families had worth and all others were little more than animals."

"Sounds familiar." Rodgers offered accepting a fresh cup of coffee.

"It wasn't battles on battlefields, it was people vanishing in the night, the government being taken over little by little. Laws accumulating and the next thing people knew, first generation witches and wizards were being rounded up, interrogated to find out who they had stolen their magic from and then sent to 're-education camp'."

They sat in silence for a few moments.

"When I was one year old, the leader of the Deatheaters came for my parents. He killed both of them but when he tried to kill me his spell rebounded from some type of protection my mother had placed on me and destroyed him instead. Unfortunately, he'd made himself sort of immortal and was simply banished as a spirit. By the time I started magical school, he was strong enough to possess willing hosts. He tried to kill me at age eleven, I killed his host instead."

"A lot of crazy stuff happened over the years but he tried to kill me a few more times until he finally managed to resurrect himself. He wasn't going to let his multiple defeats at my hand stand so he hunted me. Our Minister for Magic refused to believe he was back, he'd been bribed by Voldemort's supporters for over a decade, so we lead a shadow war against the Deatheaters while the government tried to discredit me while elements inside the governement also tried to murder me."

"My friends and I left school to hunt the items that granted Voldemort his immortality. We spent a year living out of a tent, being hunted. I actually have a copy of my Public Enemy number one wanted poster in my things. We finally got all of them when I discovered I was also one of those items. A part of Voldermorts soul had attached itself to me we he failed to kill me the night he murdered my parents and as long as I lived, he couldn't die."

Harry looked up at the soldier knowing he would understand, he had done the same himself.

"So I walked into his camp as he attacked my school and let him kill me."

Rodgers simply nodded. "You jumped on the grenade."

"Except, instead of killing me, I was able to sacrifice the piece of soul he'd left inside me and came back. By then there was only one anchor left, his snake familiar but one of my friends took care of it and then I killed the now mortal Dark Lord."

Harry looked back up at the man sitting across from him at the kitchen table. He could see no pity, not judgement only understanding. In the hallway, the sneakoscope remained perfectly still. Harry felt a rush of relief. The emotions he'd bottled since Voldemort's resurrection came back with a vengeance.

He'd never had a chance to tell anyone any of this. Well, he had of course but none of them really understood. Even the Aurors like Shaklebolt hadn't understood. To them, Harry was the Boy-Who-Lived or The-Man-who-Conquered. Moody might have understood but he had died during the escape from Privet Drive. Hermione would have understood but Harry had refused to burden her with his grief as she dealt with her own demons and he had already been enough of a burden on the young woman and Ron didn't have the emotional range to understand okus he was also suffering through his own loss.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, simply sipping their coffee. Felicity eventually returned, showered and properly dressed.

"Dude. Did we get tattoos?" Felicity asked.

Harry lifted his shirt and showed her his tattoo.

"Totally worth all those pot brownies." the Girl exclaimed.

"You drugged me?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"You didn't know?!?" Felicity asked in disbelief. "Did you not smell it when I was baking them?"

"I've never done pot in my life! How was I supposed to know? Doing mind altering drugs when you can literally reshape reality with your mind is a bad idea!" Harry explained.

"That and winners don't do drugs."

Felicity and Harry both looked at each other incredulously.

"Dude, I think you're totally awesome but ... " Uncharacteristically, Felicity hesitated to say what was on her mind.

"You are sort of the poster boy from performance enhancing drugs." Harry continued.

Rodgers appeared to want to argue the point but stopped, appeared confused for a moment before realization came upon him.

"Right."


	12. Chapter 12

Harry Potter - Avenger

Chapter 12

I originally had a scene where Harry does his first animagus transformation and gets stuck until the magic "settles" so Felicity takes him to the park to learn to fly and they meet a girl on the bus who has a pet squirrel … hint hint … but the scene was fluff after several chapters of fluff, was a bit clunky and didn't really move the story forward so I scrapped it and moved the first transformation to off screen.

Time passed in quietly, from Christmas. Harry and Felicity had celebrated the arrival of 2012 quietly at the apartment, having had enough excitement on Christmas.

Business had not picked up but Harry was not particularly worried as their expenses were minimal, he still had plenty of funds in his account and SHIELD provided him a retainer even if they hadn't made use of his abilities yet.

Felicity continued her adult education classes while Harry toyed with enchanting, learning more about Ancient Runes and finally mastering the animagus transformation.

Harry had discovered his animagus form, a large green eyed raven, during his last year at Hogwarts but hadn't had the time to complete the transformation.

Winter turned into spring and spring to early summer.

With nothing but idle time on his hands, Harry had honored his father and godfathers legacy by cautiously completing the transformation, taking extra measures to minimize the risk of being stuck in his form.

Harry was interrupted in his study of Ancient Runes by a ringing coming from his desk drawer.

Harry picked up his barely used cellphone and accepted the video call.

"Potter, we need you to come in. Something big has come up. Can you poof over?"

Harry stared at agent Sitwel's image on his screen. The man appeared to be on an air strip of some type. Men in safety gear could be seen running behind the agent and a fighter plane being refueled.

"Poof?" Harry asked incredulously.

"This is an unsecured line Potter. We need to get off it quickly and I'd rather not use certain keywords".

"Sure … how far are you from New York?"

"About 15 miles away".

Harry spent a few moments converting those miles to kilometers and staring intently at the image on his phone before nodding to himself and shutting off his phone.

With a crack the wizard disappeared from his office and appeared behind the startled shield agent.

"So what's the situation agent Sitwel?" Harry asked the startled agent.

"Damnit Potter! Don't DO THAT!" the man replied as he put away his suddenly drawn weapon.

"Sorry, sounded urgent." Harry explained with a shrug.

"It is. Several hours ago Loki, the Norse god of Mischief attacked one of our research facilities, compromised one of our best field agents, some soldiers and some of our best scientists and walked out with an item known as the Tesseract."

"The what?"

"The Tesseract, an ancient power source of unknown origin discovered by Hydra in 1942 in the town of Tonsberg. As far as we can tell it's a vessel of unlimited energy. It was lost in 1945 when Captain America crashed a plane containing atom bombs into the Arctic waters. You know that the Captain was found, you were the one tasked to introduce him to his new reality but what you don't know is that in the 1970's, during search efforts made to find Steve Rodgers, the Tesseract was discovered and brought back to the US. In the 1980's, it was handed over to SHIELD and we have been studying it since."

"The literal Norse god of magic and mischief, son of the Ice Giant Laufey and adopted by Odin? That Loki?" Harry asked his eyes wide open in shock.

"You seem well informed." Sitwell pointed out.

"Between the 8th and 15th centuries Viking and Norse settlers colonised parts of what is now Scotland, mainly around Orkney and Shetland. I spent eight years in a magical school in Scotland where my best friend studied ancient runes including Norse runes. I've also been studying them myself for the past year. Norse Runes and Norse Mythology are intertwined with Ancient Futhark runes representing Thor and Odin directly. We also had a class called History of Magic. Of course, my information might not be relevant here." Harry pointed out.

"And that's one of the reasons you were called in. This Loki seems to be using magic so we need your expertise on this."

"And so the GOD of magic and mischief now has a source of, as far as you know, unlimited power?" Harry asked, staring at the man incredulously.

"Yes."

"And what's he planning on doing with it?"

"That, Potter, is the million dollar question. Of course, this is a major crisis so we've pulled a team together to work on this. Here are some files on your team mates or potential team mates." the agent explained as he handed Harry a binder filled with reports, profiles and photographs.

Harry accepted the binder and leaned up in the shade of some crates to review the files.

Harry, quickly scanned the team profiles, recognizing most names and faces. Natasha Romanov, Steve Rodgers, Tony Stark. The one name Harry did not recognise was Bruce Banner, codenamed Hulk.

"Robert Bruce Banner, respected biochemist and nuclear physicist. Has more degrees than I have scars which is kind of impressive." Harry read off the cover page.

"Thanks, it's nice to be recognised for that instead of for the … well … other thing."

Harry turned to see a short nervous man dressed in well worn clothing.

"Dr. Banner I presume?" Harry asked, extending a hand to the man who hesitantly accepted it.

The man felt familiar. Not that Harry believed he had ever met the man before but his forced quiet, calm demeanor, worn clothes, apparently academically inclined mind. This man reminded Harry of his surrogate godfather, Remus Lupin.

"And you are?"

"Harry, Harry Potter." Harry replied as he put down the info packet.

"You don't look like a shield agent. No gun, no uniform … I'm assuming you've been called in like I have. What's your specialty?"

"I'm a … private detective would be the best way to describe what I do I guess." Harry temporised

A Quinjet landed nearby, disrupting the two men's conversation and down the ramp came Steve Rodgers.

"Dr. Banner." Steve walked up to the two after exchanging a few words with the Black Widow and shook Dr. Banners hand.

"Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd be coming."

"Word is you can find the cube."

"Is that the only word on me?"

"Only word I care about." Steve replied earnestly.

"Harry. Not surprised they dragged you into this." Steve greeted with a smile and a warm handshake.

"You guys know each other?" Dr. Banner asked.

"Yes. Harry helped me adjust after … waking up."

"Gentlemen, you may wanna step inside in a minute." Black Widow interjected. "It's gonna get a little hard to breath."

Suddenly the ship began shaking as massive machinery sparked to life.

"Is this is a submarine?" Steve asked looking about with some confusion.

"Really? They want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" Dr. Banner asked sounding worried and incredulous.

"I don't think so, the planes and crates on the deck would get washed off by water or damaged by the pressure." Harry pointed out.

The three men moved closer to the edge of the Helicarrier. Massive fans on the side of the ship began to spin and miraculously the entire carrier began to lift into the air.

"Bloody Hell!" Harry cried out, his words were drowned out by the wind while Steve watched in AWE as Dr. Banner smiled a strained smile.

"OH, NO. THIS IS MUCH WORSE."

Harry surreptitiously shrunk his files and put them away for later perusal as the group made its way to the Helicarrier's control center.

Again, Harry was utterly amazed at Muggle enginuity. Here they had created a flying aircraft carrier, something Harry was certain was beyond the skill of the Ministry of Magic or any magic government from his old world.

The doors parted and the group entered the bridge of the ship. The large room was a flurry of activity as dozen of SHIELD agents worked on various high tech computers.

"We're at lock, sir." Informed agent Hill.

"Good. Let's vanish." Ordered Fury.

Fury walked over to Doctor Banner, who appeared rather nervous and uncomfortable, and extended his hand. Banner, reluctantly shook it. "Doctor, thank you for coming."

"Thanks for asking nicely. So, uh... how long am I staying?" Banner asked nervously.

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear."

Banner nodded apparently relieved by the words. "Where are you with that?"

Fury turned to Agent Coulson to explain

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

Harry's eyes went wide in surprise, finally understanding how they had managed to keep track of him so easily.

"That's still not gonna find them in time." Romanov added in from her position at one of the computer terminals.

Banner and Fury exchanged a few words of technobabble that Harry wasn't even sure was English before Banner and Romanov left to find the scientist a place to work.

"So while Dr. Banner is going to try and find the cube, I can try and find your missing agent." Harry offered pointing to the monitor where Romanov had been working that showed an image of one agent Barton.

"What do you need?"

"Ink, a way to quickly print maps as needed and something from the missing agent: Hair, nails, blood …"

Agent Hill made her way to them. "Medical has blood for medical emergencies and the rest is easy."

"I'll also need someone to help with the computer. If you let me touch one of them I'm liable to bring this whole place crashing down." Harry kidded.

Hill and Fury looked at him with a serious expression.

"Not literally, I'm just not very good with computers is what I meant."

"I'll have an agent help you out but before you get to that, what can you tell us about Loki. He kidnapped our one Norse mythology expert."

"Norse god of trickery and mischief. A Jotun or frost giant, adopted son of Odin. A trickster, gifted with magic. An illusionist and shapeshifter."

"Shapeshifter?" Furry asked.

"Yes, fond of using illusions and different forms to trick his enemies." Harry confirmed.

"So facial recognition is pointless?" Hill asked.

"You're running it for the other missing agents anyways. Now how did he compromise your agent?"

"He has a bladed staff that can fire energy blasts and if he touches you with it, it puts you completely under his control."

"Like a zombie or a puppet …"

"No, Barton was in full control. It's like his loyalty was switched over to Loki."

Harry refrained from mentioning how that sounded eerily like the Imperius curse.

"Ok, that reminds me of a few things I encountered in my own world. I might be able to do something about that." Harry explained.

Harry was escorted to an empty storage area while several SHIELD agents fetched the materials he required. With a few swishes of his wand, Harry had a decent workspace transfigured.

The men returned with a portable computer, a printer, paper, a vial of blood and a pack of black ink cartridges.

"Start by printing a general world map, then we'll drill deeper as we go." Harry explained as he mixed a few drops of blood with the ink extracted from the printer cartridges.

An incantation later, Harry tracked Barton to Europe. A few more tests and Harry found that the agent was in Czechia and, following the slow movement of the ink drop appeared to be traveling north-west with his path potentially crossing Germany, Holland and Scotland if it continued in a straight line.

"The magic should last a while, probably another hour or so, can you keep an eye on it and let Fury know if it stops?" Harry asked the agent.

Harry walked back up to the bridge, not daring to apparate around so many high strung armed soldiers.

Coulson and Steve appeared to be in a discussion. Coulson appeared eager and excited while Steve appeared to be rather uncomfortable.

"I mean, if it's not too much trouble."

"No, no. It's fine." Steve replied, obviously uncomfortable with whatever it was Coulson had asked of him.

"It's a vintage set. It took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint, slight foxing around the edges, but...:"

Harry coughed to hide a snort of laughter as he realised that Coulson had gone full on Colin Creevy on poor Steve.

"I got a trace on Barton." Harry announced gathering what was essentially the executive branch of SHIELD.

"That was fast. Where is he?" Steve asked.

"Currently at the border of Czechia going north west'ish. If he keeps in a straight line he'll cross into Germany in a few minutes and then potentially Holland and then Scotland if he doesn't stop or deviate. I have the agent you assigned to me keeping an eye on things. My spell should last another forty minutes or so."

"Since he's going in a straight line, he must be on a plane." Hill offered.

"We might want to start making our way in that general area." Harry suggested.

"We got a hit. Sixty-seven percent match. Wait, cross match, seventy-nine percent." Sitwell exclaimed from a computer console.

"A hit on who?" Harry asked.

"Loki."

"Location?" Coulson asked.

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding."

This stunned Harry. "Are you certain?"

Sitwell projected his screen to one of the larger displays for them to view. The footage was not of the greatest quality but it appeared to be enough to convince Hill and Fury who had both seen the god in person.

"That's him alright." Fury ground out.

"That makes no sense." Harry countered.

"Why not? He's not from Earth. He might be as ignorant of technology as I am." Steve offered.

"Or me as well but he has Barton and several other SHIELD agents, they would have advised him of the possible methods they would use to track him. He's a trickster, an illusionist, a shapeshifter and has a mind control staff. There is no reason for him to be this blatant."

"Unless he wants us to know where he is." Hill offered.

"It's either a trap or a distraction." Steve added.

"He's a trickster. All good stage magicians make you focus on their right hand doing showy gestures while their left hand quietly takes the coin away." Harry agreed.

"And Barton should be getting to Germany right now so he's not with Loki so he's on his own mission." Coulson added.

"So who do we go after?" Steve asked.

"If Loki is a distraction then Hakeye's mission must be important." Hill suggested.

"But at the same time, we can't exactly ignore the Norse god walking around in plain daylight either." Fury countered, looking straight at Harry.

"I'll take Loki, Steve and the Black Widow should go and disrupt Barton's mission."

The group, minus Fury, looked at Harry in surprise.

"You want to go one on one with a Norse god?" Hill asked baffled. "He cleared out a room of some of our better agents in under a minute."

"Want to? No. But we can't exactly pass up the chance and if I get in over my head I can probably just 'poof' away as Sitwell so elegantly calls it."

"Harry, you're not a soldier, you're a private detective. You did your detective work."

Harry looked to Steve, seeing only concern from the man.

"No, I'm not a private detective, I'm a wizard."

Steve looked Harry straight in the eye for a few more moments before nodding to him. "I'm not in any position to tell someone they are getting in over their heads."

"Ok so we have a plan. Everybody head out."

"Sir, we're about to reach the 600 miles target to Stuttgart." the pilot called back to Harry over the noise of the engine and wind some time later.

"How long before you get there to back me up? Oh and it's just Harry." Harry asked as he made his way to the cockpit.

"At our current cruising speed of 1800 miles per hour that would be about 20 minutes, sir."

Harry nodded to the man. Shaking his head in amazement at the speed these planes could fly. Harry's top of the line racing broom could only do 240kph or 150mph.

"Right, can we get some images of the area?"

The copilot punched in a few buttons and a side screen shifted to a detailed satellite view of the area around the building Loki had appeared in.

After a few moments, Harry nodded to the men. "See you in 20 minutes." and with a twist and a crack the wizard disappeared only to appear a second later in front of a lavish building to the sounds of panicked screaming.

Harry cursed himself silently for having left his invisibility cloak back in his apartment and settled for the far inferior disillusionment charm.

Quietly sneaking into the lavish reception hall, Harry spotted his target. Looming over the bloody body of an elderly man lying on an altar like table, some type of high tech probe in one hand and a bladed scepter with a glowing blue gem in the other.

Harry noted briefly that the god apparently had no family name or so the enchantment in his glasses informed him.

Loki pulled the device away from his victims eye after it had beeped twice and tossed it negligently over his shoulder. After staring at his handiwork in satisfaction for a few moments, he began to make his way towards the main doors.

Having moved into an advantageous position Harry fired off a quick but silent stunning spell at the god, the disillusionment spell fading.

With inhuman speed and agility, Loki twirled about and batted the red spell away with the bladed spear to splash against the walls harmlessly.

"Now who might you be … ah! Harry Potter. They sent the detective to face me? Where is the soldier out of time?" Loki asked as he casually walked a few steps towards the wizard. All the while his expensive suit shimmered and shifted into an exotic looking outfit in greens and golds. On his head appeared a massive golden horned helm

"Steve had a prior engagement."

"So they send a Seidr to face the god of mischief?" The god in question asked mockingly.

Harry shrugged, moving his body slightly into a better dueling position.

"Are you going to come quietly?" Harry asked, raising his wand.

"You believe you have power over me mortal?" Loki's voice was low and filled with disbelief.

"You believe your paltry magics are a match for my own power!?" The gods voice rising with the powerful beings anger.

Lighting fast, Loki swung his scepter out a blazing blue blast of energy streaking towards Harry.

With a flick of his wand, the wizard deflected the bolt of power, causing it to explode into the ceiling. A chandelier crashed down along with plaster and timber.

Not waiting for a follow up blast, Harry sent out another powerful stunner towards the Jotun only for it to be parried and deflected by the bladed staff.

"Perhaps I have misjudged you Völva." Loki conceded.

"I get that a lot." Harry acknowledged, not lowering his wand.

"It is a mistake that I'll not soon repeat."

Loki vanished in a flash of light and suddenly a dozen Lokis appeared in various places around the reception hall.

All the Lokis laughed as Harry spun about is surprise.

"While you might actually have some sliver of power, you could never hope to match the Master of Magic." Loki taunted, his voice echoing from all directions.

For some reason, those words brought a shiver down Harry's spine.

Harry had noticed one interesting fact, only one of the Lokis showed a name in his glasses, a Loki fairly close to his position by the large windows leading to the front of the building.

Harry spun aiming at one of the images 90 degrees to the left of his enemy casting a silent stunner once more as a feint and readying for the sneak attack he knew would be coming from the real Loki.

When all the Lokis sent a blast from their staff, Harry ignored the blasts coming from what he assumed were illusions and deflected the blast from the real Loki back at the god sending him crashing through the windows and out into promenade beyond.

Harry rushed outside the building to see the god slowly come to his feet, his green eyes aglow with power and anger.

Harry began to wave his wand, silently transfiguring whatever pieces of debris he could into a flock of a dozen or so ravens while his opponent made to stand.

"That … was … a … mistake." The angry god ground out as he sent a blast of power at Harry.

A raven dived, intercepting the blast while Harry returned fire from his wand. Seeing how the blast of energy that had taken part of the roof of a building had simply annoyed the Ice Giant, Harry used a powerful blasting curse.

The two green eyed, dark haired magic users traded blasts for a few moments. Loki dodging or deflecting Harry's attacks while Harry's quickly diminishing flock of ravens intercepted Loki's scepter blasts.

The quick exchange of powerful blasting energy quickly caused massive damage to the surrounding plaza until Loki summoned a dagger in his free hand, sending it flying just behind a bolt from his scepter.

Harry deflected the bolt with a flick of his wand but only missed being skewered by the dagger by a narrow margin, the knife slicing a gash over his ribs.

Harry marveled at the speed and fluidity of the Ice Giant's movement. Harry had considered himself a great duelist, not the best in the wizarding world but certainly the best at Hogwarts by a large margin, years of having madmen trying to murder him forced the developement of survival skills, but Loki's speed and agility were unlike anything he had seen before clearly showing Loki's inhuman heritage.

Seeing how his current tactic was leading to an inevitable loss, Harry gathered water from a broken fire hydrant and, like Dumbledore had done to Riddle in the atrium at the Ministry of Magic, entrapped the god in a sphere of water. Harry pushed with his magic, increasing the pressure, hoping the lack of air or the pressure would be enough to make his opponent pass out.

For a moment it seemed to work as Loki's skin began to turn blue but then the entire ball of water flash froze from the center outwards. The ball no longer being water, Harry's spell fizzled and the ball of ice fell to the ground, shattering and revealing a very angry Jotun.

Loki raised his staff to fire but Harry snapped out his wand, sending a tendril of fire whipping from the tip of his wand to wrap around Loki's arm.

Loki screamed in pain and anger, wrapping another loop of the fiery rope around his arm, he suddenly pulled causing Harry to go flying through the air, landing at his feet.

"You fought well … for a mortal. I could use someone with your skills and powers." And with that said, Harry was pushed unto his back and held firm by a powerful foot. Harry struggled but could not budge the leg that held him down. Loki lowered his scepter with the tip touching Harry's chest gently.

The power of the staff hit Harry like a tidal wave compared to the power of even Voldemorts Imperius. Harry found himself floating in a familiar haze of bliss. His worries and uncertainties washed away as the power of the staff flowed into him. Or no, not the staff itself but something within the staff.

"Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power. For identity. You were made to be ruled." Loki spoke confidently, as he stepped back from the fallen wizard.

A voice inside Harry's mind agreed with Loki whole heartedly. It was simpler … no! It was right! But another voice, one Harry was more familiar with retorted in anger and disgust 'Ruled? Subjugated!?'

And suddenly the fog cleared, the enchantment: broken.

The declaration of subjugation had awakened something within Harry that even the imperius curse had never been able to overwhelm but the staff ahd. Harry was fairly certain that had Loki not gloated he would still be under the staffs thrall.

"I think I've had enough of people trying to rule me." Harry answered out loud as he called his wand to his hand and sent a blasting curse at the god sending him flying once more, this time over the flaming ruins of a car.

Slowly making his way around the vehicle revealed … nothing. Scanning the area, Harry noticed a snake making it's way around some debris, a snake named Loki.

"Nice try." Harry whispered, unknowingly in Parseltongue.

The snakes head whipped up in surprise just as Harry sent a flipendo curse at the transformed god followed by a blasting curse while his target was still in mid air.

Loki transformed back into his normal state mid flight, rolling to the ground.

Loki quickly shrugged off the blast and came rolling to his feat, charging towards the wizard. A dagger in one hand and the deadly bladed staff in the other.

Harry sent a quick burst of three blasting curses at the quickly approaching god only for them to be dodged or deflected. As Loki neered melee range, Harry twisted and apparated on the other side of the plaza.

"You infuriating insect!" Loki raged. "You cannot win, even now, I can see you tire! Why do you resist! You have no hope of defeat..."

Harry silently agreed, he was tiring. Loki's supernatural origins were only partly to blame for this. Harry realized that he'd been rather slothful since his arrival in this reality, spending his leisure time mostly reading.

Loki's rant was interrupted as bright blasts slammed into his side, sending him flying, Iron Man landing with a slide, repulsors ready to fire again.

"Oh hey Pinocchio! Kind of surprised to see you here." Stark said, turning his head towards Harry.

"Not the time, he's not down yet!" Harry replied as he readied himself.

Loki suddenly stood up, a blast of kinetic energy sending debris flying away from the enraged god.

Harry fired off another blasting curse only for it to be reflected back by the staff but this gave Stark an opening, firring his repulsors again, sending the god flying.

With Iron Man on hand to provide a bit of breathing room, Harry was able to use more complex spells. Turning some of the rubble into a pair of large, grim like dogs and sending them to harrie his opponent.

Loki rolled to his feet, sweeping his bladed scepter through one of the transfigured Grims, slicing it clearly in half while the second Grim clamped it's jaw, ineffectually, unto his ankle.

Stark blasted away with another pair of repulsor blasts but Loki deflected one and, with a swing of his foot, sent the second Grim flying in the path of the blast causing the dog to burst apart in a spray of blood and guts.

Harry sent a series of spells in a quick chain. The spells ranged from deadly to the benign, blasting curses to color changing hexes. Whatever he could chain together quickly. While most would not do anything to Loki, the God of Mischief would still have to defend against them, not knowing what they were. This distraction gave Iron Man a chance to hit the god with more energy blasts.

The two allies continued to overwhelm Loki's defences, battering him with powerful explosions until he raised his hands in surrender, his elaborate outfit shifting a much simpler one.

"Good move reindeer games!" Stark commented.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry incanted out loud to give the spell a bit more power. Loki's limbs snapped together and the Jotun fell back stiff as a board.

"That should keep him down for a bit, not sure how long, never used it on a Jotun … an Ice Giant before and Loki is also a powerful magic user in his own right so he might be able to break the enchantment but the Quinjet that's incoming will have restraints that should work." Harry explained as he slowly made his way to stand next to Stark.

"Totally petrified?" Stark asked, after removing the faceplate from his helmet. "What kind of half-assed magic spell is that? Might as well just cry out Abrakadabra!"

The quinjet landed and the team that had accompanied Harry for support rushed out. The team medic making his way to Harry. "Sir, you're bleeding."

"No worries, I'll deal with this. Go see if you can help anyone else. There's also a dead man on an altar inside and Loki threw down some type of silvery probe thingy he used on the man somewhere."

The man hesitated but Harry rolled his eyes, lifted his shirt and with a tap of his wand, the cut slowly sealed itself.

"What the hell!" Stark exclaimed as he leaned in closer to observe the now healed wound.

"Let's get our prisoner in the quinjet and from the public before we talk."

Harry levitated Loki into the Quinjet where he was shackled to a bench and then unfrozen. A few soldiers and the medic remained on site to await a cleanup crew while Harry and Stark made their way back to the Helicarrier.

"So you're a real life wizard." Stark stated.

"Yes." Harry replied. "Do we know how captain Rodger's mission went?" Harry asked the pilot.

"Sorry sir, not something they'd broadcast over unsecured comms lines."

"Thank-you Mr. Stevens."

"Ok, so what's your con?" Stark demanded.

"Not a con, just magic." Harry replied simply.

"Card tricks, pulling a rabbit out of a hat, tea leaves and tarot cards?" Stark demanded mockingly.

"We just fought the Norse god of mischief." Harry pointed out, placing special emphasis on the word god.

"An alien from another world, not a god. That stick is some type of subatomic particle manipulation tech or something!" Stark insisted his expression getting darker by the second.

"Not tech, eleven inches of holly with, at its core, a tail feather from a phoenix." Harry explained, producing the wand from his wrist holster.

"There is no such thing as magic! Just science we haven't understood yet." Stark insisted vehemently.

"You are so pathetically simple minded."

"Shut it Rock of Ages!" Stark ordered Loki angrily pointing a finger in his direction.

"You are a man looking at the world through a keyhole. You've spent your whole life trying to widen that keyhole... to see more, to know more. And now, on hearing that it can be widened, in ways you can't begin to comprehend, you reject the possibility? You think you know how the universe works?" Loki continued unabashed. "The universe is far greater and more complex than your simple mortal mind can fathom. I have seen things mortal … worlds beyond even all knowledge of the All-Father."

"I hate to say this but I have to agree with Loki. While some things could probably be explained by science like magical creatures I've seen things that defy science: ghosts, unkillable demons that steal your soul, animated paintings that retain a portion of their subjects knowledge and personality, spells fueled by negative or positive emotions." Harry explained.

"I'm not trying to discount your belief out of hand but for example there is a spell that once cast hides a secret inside a single person. If I cast this spell and say that 'Tony Stark is Iron Man.' everyone who ever knew your true identity would forget it, even you. Every written record or recording would be un-viewable by EVERYONE except the secret keeper and once the secret keeper reveals this secret to a person, all that information would suddenly become available again but only to that one person and they would be incapable of sharing it themselves in any way, shape or form. The first time I saw this spell in use, I was brought to a home that was hidden by the spell since it was used as a secret base of operations by a resistance group. I was taken to a street where the houses in front of me were number 10 and 14 with no space for a number 12. I was told the secret and suddenly number 12 Grimmauld Place squeezed itself in between 10 and 14. People who had been raised in that house couldn't remember anything about where they had grown up. Not sure how science could explain that."

Loki looked on with eyes wide with surprise but remained silent while Stark eyes narrowed in thought.

"Prove it!"

"Unfortunately, I was never taught the spell. It's one of those magics that, in the wrong hands, could have terrible, terrible consequences so it was a really well guarded secret. A friend of mine, bloody brilliant, theorised that it could be used for nefarious reasons. One example she gave was making secret the fact that a certain person needed to eat and drink to live causing everyone other than the secret keeper to wonder why that person's health was failing until they died of starva..."

Harry was interrupted by the sound of thunder and Loki's sudden shifting in his bonds.

"What's the matter, scared of a little lightning?" Stark said mockingly.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows…" was Loki's reply as something impacted the quinjet causing a large thump sound and shaking the quinjet itself.

Harry waved his wand as Stark put on his faceplate.

"There's someone on top of the jet!" Harry warned.

"I'm gonna go say hello then." Stark replied as he pressed a button to open the bay door.

A shape suddenly flew into the quinjet. A massive man dressed in strange armor, a long red cape, with long flowing dirty blond hair wielding a hammer Harry had seen before.

"Mjolnir!" Harry whispered.

Thor looked at both Harry and Stark before grabbing Loki and pulling him out of the plane.

"Now there's that guy!"

"That was Thor Odinson, the god of thunder. I was under the impression that he was an ally." Harry explained.

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." Tony replied as he leapt out of the Quinjet to chase after the two Asgardians.

Wishing he had mastered Snape's and Voldemorts ability to fly of their own power or at least brought his broom, Harry swore softly and ran off the ramp, leaping after the others.

Harry could see, in the distance, Starks repulsor jet's lighting the night sky. Using his years of experience riding a broom, Harry angled his body to follow the bright points of light. Harry watched in the distance as Stark suddenly swerved and apparently landed. Without propulsion, Harry would be unable to reach them in free fall so, after slowing his descent slightly, with a mental push Harry transformed into his still unnamed raven form to cover the final distance.

Harry landed next to Loki, sitting on a ledge looking on with undisguised glee as Stark and Thor confronted each other.

"... will face Asgardian justice!"

Loki stared at Harry with a raised eyebrow as the wizard returned to his human form but turned his attention back to the two in the clearing below.

"He gives up the Cube, he's all yours. Until then, stay out of my way."

Harry assumed that Stark must have said something in a lower tone of voice because Thor gave him an affronted look before sending Mjolnir into Stark, sending Iron Man flying across the clearing.

"Petrificus Totalus, Incarcerous, Stupify!" Harry cast all three spells, securing Loki before apparating down to the clearing with as loud a crack as he could.

"Are you both insane?" Harry asked as he appeared between the two combatants.

"Choose your words wisely mortal lest I take offense."

"Thor Odinson crown prince of Asgard?" Harry asked the man.

"That is correct."

"Did Asgard just declared war on Midgard?"

"Of course not, Midgard is part of the Nine Realms and under Odin's protection!" Thor replied in an insulted tone.

"You just attacked a military transport, transporting a war criminal who has broken into a military base, killed several military personnel, kidnapped more military personnel, stolen military property, murdered several civilians and reduced a multi million dollar military complex into rubble. You then rescued that criminal! So I guess that Asgard approves of Loki's plans then if they're sending their crown prince to rescue him."

"I am here to put an end to Loki's schemes!"

"And you Stark. What are you doing?"

"Trying to stop this guy from leaving with Loki!"

"By picking a fight with him and leaving Loki unguarded?"

"You left him there too!" Stark pointed to the ledge where Loki lay.

"He's paralysed, wrapped in ropes and unconscious! I secured him before trying to break up this stupid, pointless fight! On top of that, Loki doesn't want to escape, he's right where he wants to be."

"What?" came from Thor and Stark in stereo.

"He's the trickster god, master of illusions and a shapeshifter. On top of all that, he also has a mind control staff. All of those are subtle arts. Knowing this, how did we ever find him? Because he wanted to be found. What part of what happened at Stuttgart was subtle? He could have used a minion to do what he did or to bring that man to him and do what he did in private, he could have done this under an illusion to disguise himself and fool our image recognition. Instead he did this himself, un-cloaked and very publicly. He wanted to be found and captured."

"He is correct, my brother is a master of illusions and a shapeshifter. He has managed to hide his presence from the all seeing eyes of Heimdal on several occasions.There was one time my brother transformed himself into a snake because he knows how much I like snakes, and so I picked the snake up to admire it, but then he turned back and went 'AAHH! It's me!' And then he stabbed me."

Both Harry and Stark turned to look at Thor in disbelief.

"Then what was all that about the cuffs keeping him secure in Stuttgart?"

"I don't want him to know that I know that he wants to be captured obviously or he'll change his plans." Harry replied as if talking to a child. "I want him to think we've underestimated him."


	13. Chapter 13

Thank you all for the comments.

El espectator - Thanks for the translation. Hablo Espagnol commo el nino dos tres anos.

In terms of me writing Harry without emotions, that was mostly on purpose (and partially because I'm not a good writer). Harry is broken, he's just now, a year later, starting to recover.

People cope with trauma in different ways ...

Harry sort of shut down only really reacting to extremes like Felicity rummaging through his trunk nude.

I guess I lacked the skill to show that through my writing.

Harry walked into a meeting room, finding Steve, still in his Captain America uniform, sitting at a conference table with the Black Widow while Dr. Banner stood in a corner away from the others.

All three were watching a large monitor that showed Loki being shoved into a high tech glass cell.

Fury walked up the control panel of the cell.

"In case it's unclear. You try to escape. You so much as scratch that glass…"

Fury pressed a button which opened a hatch underneath Loki's cell.

Loki appeared less than impressed.

"Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?!"

Fury closed the hatch.

"Ant."

Then points at the button which would drop Loki into the steel trap.

"Boot."

"It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you."

"Oh, I've heard." Loki replied, a smirk on his face. "The mindless beast, makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?"

Harry wondered what Loki was talking about. Was there a werewolf inside SHIELD?

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

"Ooh. It burns you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is."

"Well, you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something."

The group remained silent as they processed what they had seen.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner offered, breaking the tense atmosphere.

"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve asked.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Banner concluded.

"Selvig?"

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend."

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours." Natasha interjected.

"Speaking of that. How did your mission go?" Harry asked.

"We got Clint and we got the Iridium. Clint is in a cell here and the Iridium is somewhere safe on board as well."

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."

"I think I'm going to go and get us some answers." Harry replied, standing up from his place at the table.

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him."

Thor turned to Banner, annoyance clear in his expression.

"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days." Natasha replied in her deadpan delivery.

"He's adopted?" Thor offered questioningly as if it explained everything.

"I'm not going anywhere near Loki. I'd get nothing but lies and miss-directions from the god of trickery. No I think I'll go and chat with agent Barton."

"I'll escort you there." Fury informed Harry from the doorway. It was obviously not a request.

The two made their way towards the detention cells, crossing Stark and Coulson on the way.

"You know, Barton is one of our best agents. He's trained to counter almost every interrogation technique." Fury offered in a conversational tone. "And torture of a prisoner is a human rights violation."

"Torture isn't really my cup of tea." Harry replied hoping to assuage the directors concerns.

"So how are you planning on getting the information?"

Harry continued walking for a few moments before answering.

"I have a few different techniques." Harry hedged.

"Look, we need to work together on this. Divided we fall."

"And if you knew everything about me, so would Loki right now." Harry countered softly.

"Even Felicity doesn't know everything I can do. What you don't know can't be used against me. That's one thing I learned the hard way. Your organization has been compromised, Barton, Selvig and who knows how many more. Who knows what they've told your enemies … I can't take that risk."

"Loose lips sink ships. That's something I learned early on." Harry explained, remembering the DA and Marietta's betrayal.

Fury put a hand on Harry's shoulder stopping.

"Fine. I get what you're saying. I also have contingency plans that are off the books. But right now, I need answers and I don't care HOW you get them. Do … you ... understand?"

Harry nodded, it was clear to him that Fury wouldn't care how the information was obtained.

"I'll get back to the others then, I don't like leaving Stark unsupervised for extended periods. Get me results Potter."

Harry looked around only to find that they had made it to the detention center. Harry walked in and the guards on duty simply waved him inside.

On a cot, inside a barred cell was a slightly battered and bruised agent Barton.The man's eyes, covered in a strange shimmering pattern, never wavered as they stared at Harry intently.

While the imperious could be detected by a wary observer by the look in the victims eyes, the power of the staff was far more obvious.

Harry attempted to passively skim the agents memories as he moved to a position in front of the cell but was met with resistance.

Turning around, Harry conjured himself a comfortable chair and sat down.

The two men stared at each other in silence. Harry continues to attempt passive legilimency to no success. Either Barton had some rudimentary defences or his enthralling by Loki's staff had granted him a measure of protection.

"You won't get anything from me." Barton explained, breaking the lengthy silence. "I'm sure Fury's told you I've been trained to resist interrogation techniques and even if he authorized torture, that's not in your psych profile."

"That's what the last person I tortured told me as well. Something about needing to really WANT to hurt her, that righteous anger wouldn't cut it."

This seemed to shock the man slightly.

"But I didn't want information from her. I just wanted her to hurt. No, I don't need torture to get the information I want."

Harry raised his wand and cast Legilimens, pouring as much power as he could into the spell.

Harry felt his spell smash into a wall around Bartons mind so he poured more power into the spell smashing through the defenses.

Floating in the man's mind Harry could see the man had no defences, at least nothing as described in his books.

Harry hunted about looking for information.

While the man had no real defences, Harry was far from a master Legilimancer so it took some time to find a relevant memory.

Barton had used his knowledge of SHIELD to gather a rather impressive group of men and women who all had a beef with SHIELD.

A few memory fragments showed Barton contacting people who needed little or no encouragement.

Some unknown time later, Harry finally found an interesting memory.

Barton was making his way through a makeshift lab walking up to an older man directing men about.

"Put it over there. Where did you find all these

people?" The man asked.

"SHIELD has no shortage of enemies, Doctor. This the stuff you need?"

Barton passed the man a tablet with some details on a mineral.

"Yeah. Iridium. It's found in meteorites, it forms anti-protons. It's very hard to get hold of."

"Especially if SHIELD knows you need it."

"Well, I didn't know." The man offered.

At that moment, Loki entered the small workstation.

"Hey! This is wonderful. The Tesseract has shown me so much. It's- it's more than knowledge, it's truth." The man exclaimed, ecstatically. An expression of neer religious rapture on his face.

"I know. It, ah- it touches everyone differently. What did it show you Agent Barton?"

The vision faded and Harry reached for another clustered close by.

Barton stood in front of a large group of men and women in a makeshift briefing room. On a whiteboard were technical details Harry could not understand but what he did recognise was a crude drawing of the Hellicarrier with several weak points highlighted with arrows.

"So to recap. We will take our stolen Quinjet and send in the confirmation approach codes. I'll disable one of rotors here, then we'll go in hard to reach the bridge where we'll disable the entire network. That'll leave them blind and crippled. Our priority will be to extract the VIP."

Barton turned back from the whiteboard.

"Bravo team, you got your instructions from Loki on where to setup the device?"

"Right, at Stark …"

The man, apparently the leader of Bravo team was quickly interrupted.

"That's need to know!" Barton baked out loudly. "Some of us are going on another mission where the risk of capture is, while minimal, still a possibility. You can't betray what you don't know."

The leader of Bravo team winced at the rebuke but sat down.

"Team Charlie, you work on a contingency plan in case we get captured while acquiring the Iridium. Again, keep you plans need to know. Your priority is …"

The memory ended as Harry was forcefully ripped from the agent's mind. All around, alarm bells were ringing. The brig was in shambles, part of the ceiling having collapsed due to an explosion of some kind that had thrown Harry several feet back.

Alarms blared and smoke billowed through the now dimly lit area but Harry could hear some pained moaning coming from outside the cell and drunkenly made his way towards it.

The two guards outside the door lay on the floor. One, obviously dead, his head crushed by heavy debris while the other was conscious but heavily injured, blood seeping from his damaged uniform.

"Hey! You'll be ok. We'll get you out of this." Harry whispered encouragingly as he knelt down next to the man, vanishing part of his uniform.

"No … you have to stop the attack."

Harry ignored the man's feeble protests.

"This'll only take a second Mr. Thomas. I just want to stop you from bleeding out. Now be quiet, healings not my strong suit and I need to focus."

Harry waved his wand over the man's wounds, causing them to slowly close.

"I spent seven years sharing a dorm in school with a Thomas. Dean Thomas, was a solid enough bloke, good at art but a bit of a slob or maybe it was just that Neville and me were just more conscious of the mess the other three made."

Harry just rambled on, trying to distract the guard from the pain since he had no pain relief potions on hand.

"And we're done. At least as much as I can do. I wouldn't move about, not sure how much internal damage you have."

"Right! Now get going. Fury's going to need his big guns." The man ordered.

"First, what happened and what's going on. I can't go out there blind."

"There was a call out about a dozen bogies coming in fast towards our position, we went into full alert when the Helicarrier shook from several explosions."

Harry turned around, just now remembering why he was there to find Barton gone from his cell, a small hole in the wall apparently his means of escape.

"Let Fury know Barton is loose but I was able to get some information. I'm going to track him down before he does more damage to the ship."

Not waiting for confirmation, Harry rushed to the cell and made his way into the hole.

Crawling deeper through the labyrinthine ventilation or maintenance shafts, Harry considered transforming into his raven form to alleviate the claustrophobia setting in when he finally emerged into some sort of engineering area.

Harry was interrupted in his search for signs of Barton by an inhuman roar, the rapidly approaching sound of crashing glass, protesting metal and heavy repetitive thumping.

Turning to the fast approaching sound, Harry saw a wild eyed agent Romanov expertly parkouring through the cluttered area. The reason for her panic was the green, nearly twelve foot tall, troll like mass of muscles running after her, tearing everything in it's path like it was all made of cardboard.

Harry turned and began to run with the spy but his own parkour skills and general physical fitness was not on par with the super spy and only by using short apparition jumps was he able to keep pace.

"Keep running." Harry ordered the red headed spy before turning back just in time to see a massive green fist barreling towards his face.

Harry spun to the side and apparated next to Romanov. The creature blinked in confusion where Harry had stood just moments earlier.

Harry could see workers trying to evacuate the area, helping some of their coworkers move from under collapsed pieces of equipment.

"Go find Barton, Loki's troll isn't the first I handle." Harry offered.

"That's not a troll, that's Banner."

The troll or rather Banner, roared in anger, grabbed a large chuck of machinery and launched it at them.

Harry flicked his wand and transformed the object, mid flight, into a massive amount of steel marbles.

The marbles hit Harry hard and when he turned to see if Black Widow was ok, he found she had already left.

"What do you mean that's Banner!?" Harry cried out in frustration.

Doctor Banner took a few threatening steps but lost his footing on the steel marbles. Not enough for him to fall but to slow his progress.

"FINITE INCANTATEM!"

Harry gathered as much power as he could and cast the general purpose magic canceling spell hoping it would revert whatever magic Loki had used on the soft spoken scientist but the spell had no visible effect.

Banner returned Harry's shout with a Primal roar of his own. The force of the scream forced the wizard to take a step back.

Harry flung a pair of bludgeoning spells at Banner, causing the creature to stumble back a half step. Before Harry could recover, the green juggernaut charged forward, his right fist punching forward.

Harry barely managed to throw himself to the side.

Banners fist hit a heavy piece of machinery ripping it from the floor and sending it careening into the wall five feet away where it embedded itself into said wall.

"LEVICORPUS!"

Harry cast the spell from his prone position, causing Banner to flip up and hang in the air as if caught in an ankle noose trap.

Banner roared in fury while Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"Never thought I'd be glad for Snape taunting me with those pensieve memories." Harry whispered as he scrambled to stand from prone position.

But that relief was short lived as the trashing green giant suddenly grabbed hold of a large piece of machinery and some support struts and pulled, his massive muscled bunching from the exertion.

The ground shook as the spell holding Banner snapped and the troll like scientists efforts sent him crashing face first into the ground.

Banner was obviously a melee combatant while wizards favoured distance but the room was far too cramped for Harry to work with so Harry twirled his wand and with a push of power cast the space expansion charm around himself.

The charm had never been designed for such a hasty and casual use and Harry could feel the very fabric of reality protest the alteration. With a groan of protesting metal and several pieces of equipment experiencing a sudden catastrophic failure, the area warped and rippled before tripling in size, giving Harry a bit more breathing room and moving his green opponent further away by several precious feet.

Banner raised himself from the ground, looked about the expanded room, confusion briefly replacing the rage that had been there moments earlier.

"Dr. Banner, not sure if you can understand me..." Harry began, hoping to talk the now slightly less violent man down but at the mention of his name, Banners rage seemed to rekindle and his roar of rage reverberated deafeningly around the expanded room.

Harry snapped off a stunner that simply splashed harmlessly off Banners hide.

Banner leapt the distance between Harry and himself landing a punch that barely missed the wizard and left a massive dent in the metal floor.

Harry apparated away and transfigured a pipe into a large, if hollow, animated metal serpent, directing the snake towards the enraged man but Banner simply grabbed the snake and ripped it in half with only a slight effort.

Before Banner could throw the two pieces away, Harry transfigured them into manacles and connected them with thick chains to the floor.

This delayed Banner for a few precious moments and Harry continued with this tactic.

Chains began to spring up from several points about the room latching on to Banner and anchoring themselves to the walls, floor and ceiling.

The tactic appeared to work as Banner seemed to struggle under the constraints of a dozen massive steel chains.

Taking a moment to regroup, Harry noticed that the expanded room was empty except for a group of men trying to lift a heavy beam off one of their coworkers.

Harry cast a weightlessness charm on the beam and turned his attention back to Banner just in time to see him rip the chains in his arms from the wall, taking large sections of the wall with them.

Harry flung the standard spells at Banner. The man again shrugged off the effects of the stunning spell, the ropes from the incarcerous spell were weaker than the chains Harry had transfigured. The petrification spell actually had some effect but lasted only a few seconds.

Banner in the interim had easily ripped up the remaining chains and appeared even angrier than before. Grabbing several of the chains, Banner began whipping them about using them as a weapon.

Harry transfigured the mass of chains into a solid metal snake, directing the snake to coil itself around Banner and constrict.

While Banner struggled with the snake, hitting and denting it with his one free massive hand, Harry began working on the floor causing it to flow up Banners body, encasing his lower body in a metal skin.

Harry began to feel hope, he appeared to be gaining the upper hand against his hulking opponent when he suddenly felt a feeling like an elastic snapping.

With all the damage done to the room by Banner and Harry's own warping of the floor, the already straining space expansion enchantment had finally snapped.

Banner had apparently also felt that something had just gone horribly wrong as he stopped his struggles and looked about curiously.

The walls and floor began to warp randomly while shelving and support beams twisted into impossible shapes as Harry's corrupted spell fought to hold back the universe trying to right itself.

The conflicting forces resulted in a warped and distorted space, jagged spears of metal forming out of the environment .

Banner bunched his legs and leapt upwards, his arms shielding his head as he ripped through the warping ceiling.

Harry followed through the doctor with a ascendare spell, avoiding the jagged metal spearing through the deformed room as it haphazardly recovered its dimensions, into a warehouse type area.

Banner was grunting and slamming his fists against the metal floor in a primal rage, reminding Harry of a gorilla he had seen in a nature show on Privet Drive. Harry took advantage of the distraction and transformed a large shipping container into a vaguely humanoid metal statue and then animated it sending it charging at his opponent.

The metal construct slammed heavily into Banner, knocking him back a step before being beaten into a malformed lump as Banner vented his rage against the poorly animated golem like creature.

"Right, I obviously can't outfight you and you'll rip this ship apart if I let you loose. Let's try something mental."

Harry flicked his wand and cast an overpowered cheering charm, hoping a happy, or euphoric troll would be easier to deal with than an enraged one.

The spell took effect as Harry's animation spell buckled under Banners unrelenting blows.

Banner looked about as if confused for a moment, a large grin slowly forming on his face to be quickly replaced by a deep primal laugh.

Banner fell back on his back and began laughing uproariously.

Harry watched in amazement as slowly, Banner reverted from a massive green muscle bound troll and back to a skinny scientist.

"What?" Harry whispered in disbelief.

"What ... hahahaha … the hell … was that?" The man asked between fits of laughter.

"WHAT?!?"


	14. Chapter 14

About the cheering charm not reverting Hulk into Banner.

The anger was magically induced from the staff so it being countered by an opposite magic makes some sense.

Also, the cheering charm isn't a tickling spell, it causes an actual change in mood and when overpowered can cause euphoria.

"The Cheering Charms had left them with a feeling of great contentment." - HP: PoA

It's not a physical change but a mental one.

Also I'm not a teenager, I'm 45.

About Loki being more powerful than Harry … yes and no. Physically it's not even a question. Loki was toying with Steve in the film after all and while physically wizards are a far more resilient than normal humans (Quidditch would be a far more lethal game if they weren't) they aren't inherently stronger or faster.

Magically on the other hand … Loki's magic is very limited. It's all about illusion, mental influence, a little transfiguration and the ability to hide objects and summon daggers. He also has a cold affinity from his Jotun heritage.

Harry's magic is far greater and more versatile. In the fight in Germany, Harry was trying to capture Loki while Loki was aiming to maim or kill and Loki's own power was supplemented by the mind stone inside the scepter. Harry still held his own … magically speaking.

Harry stared warily at the laughing man on the ground, wand at the ready in case he suddenly reverted back into a troll.

"I'm ok now. The anger's all gone." The man offered in between giggles as he sat up.

"Anger?"

"Yeah. You know, the… well, the other guy comes out when I'm angry or in danger."

"That was all you?! I thought Loki had turned you into a troll! I feel I was denied critical need to know information!" Harry replied

"I'm sure it's in my profile, you were reading it earlier on deck."

Harry searched his pockets and found the shrunken information package Sitwell had handed him when he had arrived.

"I … ehm … I never actually finished reading it. I only read your cover page and then we all sort of got busy."

Banner gave Harry a half incredulous, half amused look.

Further discussion was interrupted as Thor burst into the cargo hold, looking about wildly, a look of anticipation on his face and his hammer raised.

Harry barely managed to restrain himself from blasting the Asgardian.

"Where is he, where is Banner?"

Harry silently pointed to the half naked giggling man sitting on the floor.

A look of confusion and disappointment passed over Thor's face.

"I was told he had turned into a fearsome beast that would tear apart this entire ship should he not be stopped."

"Yeah, I stopped him."

"Fury seemed to think I would be the only one possibly able to match this 'Hulk' in battle. Tell me, how did you defeat him?"

Harry could almost swear there was a slight whingeing tone to the statement.

"I … err … I made him laugh?"

Thor stared at Harry in confusion.

"I do not pretend to understand the ways of wizards. If the situation is resolved I will go and confirm that my brother is still captive in his cell."

With that, the god of thunder flew off.

"Right! We're still under attack. We should make our way back to the bridge."

Harry waved his wand and transfigured random pieces of cloth into simple clothing for Banner.

"So … magic?"

Harry nodded absently as they slowly made their way down the corridors, watching for possible attackers.

"Do you rearrange things at a molecular level?"

Harry shook his head in response.

"No. I can change things into a different thing entirely. Vegetable to mineral, inanimate to animate. One of our lessons was turning a rat into a goblet for example. And transfiguration is just one field of magic, divination, warding …"

Harry stopped his explanation as two men dressed in SHIELD uniforms turned a corner and opened fire.

Harry swished his wand causing the security gate between them to slam shut with a shower of sparks as the electronics inside fried.

A few bullets had whizzed past them before the gate closed but had missed both men.

"That was close maybe you should find a place to hide until things quiet down." Harry offered.

"No. I'm good. At least if something happens I know you'll be around to try and calm me down. Truth is I normally have a good grasp on the other guy, not sure why I lost control earlier … come to think of it, everyone was acting pretty crazy."

Harry nodded and motioned for the man to follow him down another corridor.

"That might have been Loki's plan. Turning all of you against each other using subtle mental manipulations would be his style." Harry agreed.

Harry could hear gunfire coming from further down the hall.

Signalling for Banner to hang back Harry made his way forward.

Two groups of SHIELD agents were exchanging gunfire from well defended positions.

Unfortunately, Harry couldn't tell the imposters apart from the real SHIELD agents and passive legilimency was impossible at that distance and without eye contact.

"So, what's the plan?" Banner whispered into Harry's ear.

Harry realised that one group was defending access to the bridge. Hoping he was correct in his assumption, he was about to cast a series of stunning spells at the other group when he recognised one of the defenders from Barton's memories … the leader of Charlie group.

Harry stood up from out of cover and sent a bombarda at the floor in the middle of the group sending them flying, quickly followed by a string of spells: stunning, petrification, incarcerous …

Half the opposing group was down before they could recover and regroup but by that time, the real SHIELD agents had recovered from their surprise and rejoined the fight.

"Glad you showed up when you did sir." A SHIELD agent said, approaching Harry.

"Glad to help and it's just Harry. So what should we do next."

"I was going to ask you that?" The man offered.

"I'm just a consulting detective. I'm not a SHIELD agent or a soldier." Harry replied in confusion.

The man looked at Harry with a raised eyebrow and pointed at the enemy group being secured and back at Harry.

"I don't know procedures, the ships layout … that type of thing. So what should we do now?"

The man nodded.

"The bridge was under attack but we lost comms a few minutes ago. We should go up and see if the director is safe. But there's also the VIP in the drop pod."

"Thor should already be there so let's go to the bridge."

They made their way to the bridge finding a large group of dead soldiers at the entrance.

The AGENT with Harry cried out some passphrases and received permission to enter.

The bridge was a mess. Agent Hill was bruised, bloodied and battered. There were dead or wounded agents scattered about the wreaked consoles.

Harry rushed to the first group of wounded and began using his limited repertoire of healing magic.

"Did you get anything from Barton and how did he escape!?"

Harry ignored Fury for a few moments as he worked on the wounded SHIELD agent.

"Loki being captured was always part of the plan and they had two teams planning separate rescue missions. Also, whatever they plan on doing is going to happen somewhere that has something to do with Stark."

Harry rushed to another fallen agent, a medic offering Harry information on the wounds.

"As for how he got away, I got knocked about when the whole place exploded and he scampered out a hole in the wall. I tried to follow but then found Dr. Banner playing tag with Black Widow and got a bit distracted."

Fury turned to where Banner was working, helping the medics and nodded at the man.

"Good to see you being you doctor."

The man in question waved back timidly.

"So what's the situation?" Harry asked as he moved to another injured man.

"Most of our systems are down, Stark and Rogers are trying to fix the rotors so we don't crash into the ocean."

Harry nodded.

"Thor is checking on Loki and Black Widow is hunting Barton." Harry offered.

"Sir! The drop pod has just disengaged!"

Harry quickly stood up and spun in place apparating into the containment area.

The place was a mess. Agent Coulson was on the ground lying in a growing pool of his own blood, cradling a dangerous looking weapon in his lap.

"You've … got to stop … Loki."

"Yeah! I'll get on that in a moment. Just stay quiet while I try and stop you from dying."

Harry waved his and frantically, using his most powerful healing spells.

"Vulnera Sanentur, Vulnera Sanentur, Vulnera Sanentur."

Slowly, the bleeding stopped, the wound cleared and began slowly mending itself.

"Damage is pretty severe, wish I had some potions. Couple of blood replenishers and a draught of living death would come in handy right now." Harry offered as he wiped the blood away to reveal scar tissue.

"You need rest, a blood transfusion and some essence of dittany to soften up those scars but you should live."

Fury rushed into the room at that moment with exhausted looking Black Widow.

"Barton and Loki managed to steal a Quinjet. Stark and Rogers are heading to the bridge. How's Coulson?"

"He'll probably live. He's short on blood and needs an infusion and he'll be stiff and recovering for a while. Some essence of dittany will help with the scars."

Harry looked up to see an honest look of concern and relief flicker momentarily on Fury's face.

"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Thor. I got nothing for you."

Fury addressed Stark, Rogers, Banner, Hill, Romanoff and Harry on the bridge.

"Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called THE AVENGERS INITIATIVE. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could."

"I wasn't brought here to find the Tesseract. It's not me you wanted, just the … the other guy."

Harry turned to Banner who seemed to be trying to reign in his anger.

"A bit of both really. You really are the best person to track down the cube but I was hoping that if things turned out for the worse, the Hulk could show us his best. Unlike General Ross, I know I can't control the Hulk but if things get as bad as I think they will and if your control is as good as I believe …"

Fury let the sentence hang and dropped heavily into his chair.

"Ok so we need to stop wasting time and get a move on. We have a few things going for us. We know that they are going to set up somewhere related to Stark and …"

"Why are you planning? We've lost. SHIELD has lied and manipulated us…"

"And what? Let Loki enslave the earth? Because a spy agency didn't tell us all it's secrets and has been building weapons?" Harry abruptly cut off Stark. "I thought you were a genius! We're still alive. While we still draw breath, we haven't lost! Steve, please tell me at least you understand this."

"Harry's right. SHIELD should have been more open with us but the fate of the world is more important than a little thing like betrayal of trust."

Fury, didn't even flinch at the accusation.

"So like I was saying, we disrupted their plans so if we move fast enough we might be able to stop the invasion entirely. Wherever they are setting this up, it has to do with you Stark."

"Stark tower. It's powered by my prototype arc reactor, all the power they'd need to initiate another portal."

Harry watched as Iron Man flew off into the distance, heading back to New York, his armor moving far faster than a Quinjet ever could.

"So what's the plan?" Harry asked as Steve and Natasha maklde their way towards a Quinjet.

"Head off to New York and stop Loki."

"You are not authorized to be here…"

Steve interrupted the young pilot. "Son... just don't."

"Hey! Wait up!"

The trio turned around to see Banner running up to them looking nervous.

"Dr. Banner?"

"Not sure I should be doing this, last time Hulk visited New York we sort of broke … Harlem." Banner offered timidly as he gingerly approached the jet.

"Hopefully we'll be able to stop Loki before he has a chance to call his army but if not …" Natasha let the comment hang for a moment.

"And you're the only one other than Stark who understands the tech so having you around might be important." Steve added encouragingly.

"Ok, I'll head off to my office to pick up a few things and then I'll catch up with Stark. I'll see you there."

Cap nodded to Harry in response as Harry vanished with a soft crack of apparition appearing a second later in his bedroom.

Grabbing his cloak and his broom, Harry hesitated for a moment his hand hovering over the locked box containing both the Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone.

After a moment of hesitation, Harry opened the box and withdrew both Hallows.

Transfiguring his padded leather seekers gloves to hold the Elder wand under his wrist and embedding the resurrection stone over the back of his hand.

The Elder Wand felt energised and eager, resting in it's holster, as if it knew what was to come.

Harry then quickly donned some of his seeker gear hoping the slightly enchanted padded leather would offer some extra protection and then draped his invisibility cloak over his shoulders and strapped the sword of Gryffindor to his back.

The entire kit looked, amazingly enough, rather impressive, the cloak gave him the appearance of being out of shift with reality as the invisibility effect was incomplete when the cloak was not fully covering him.

Rushing out the apartment to the office, Harry found Felicity napping at her desk.

"FELICITY!"

"WHAT?! WHO!?" the girl cried as her chair fell backwards.

"Grab any money we have handy, jump on the Triumph and get as far away from New York as you can!" Harry blurted out as he helped the girl stand up.

"What? Wait … WHAT!?" she asked in confusion.

"Loki, the actual Norse god of mischief, has an alien army on the way to invade Earth. New York is going to be the front line of an alien invasion so take the Triumph and get out of here as fast as you can, fly it out of town if you have to. Be careful."

"Do you know how insane that sounds?" Felicity asked as she accepted his wallet.

"Crazier than fighting a demon who hunts you in your dreams?" Harry asked.

Not giving her a chance to react, Harry spun in place and apparated from his office to Central Park, a location he had a lot of practice apparating to.

Harry leapt onto his broom and took off in direction of Stark Tower.


End file.
